


Batter Swing!

by Jimblejambles



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Anxiety, Art Student Jeonghan, Astrology Student Joshua, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Bullying, Childcare Student Dokyeom, Comedy Student Wonwoo, Dance Student Hoshi, Depression, Drama Student Jun, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forced Crossdressing, History Student Dino, Home Economics Student Mingyu, Homophobia, It looks like it will be fun and games but it's not, Kidnapping, M/M, Meteology Student Joshua, Music Student Woozi, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychology Student The8, Rap Student Vernon, Smoking, Softball, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Vet Student Seungcheol, Violence, Vocal Student Seungkwan, implied/referenced past rape/non-con
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2018-12-13 20:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11767320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jimblejambles/pseuds/Jimblejambles
Summary: 5th September 2018Chan, at the young age of 19, began college and he decided to join the school's Softball team. From there, chaos ensues as he meets the 12 other members of his team. Will Chan survive college with these nutjobs? Probably not. But, it will be fun! From late night drives around town in the team's minivan to helping your team realise they are all homosexuals who need to realise their feelings for one another; Chan's college life is sure to be interesting and wacky.





	1. The Team

**Author's Note:**

> Finally time to bring my sins to AO3 as well ;)

**Softball Team **

**SEVENTEEN**

**Captain/1st Base**

Choi Seungcheol (S.Coups) 23 (8|8|1995) 5th Year

Seungcheol is in his 5th year of college and he's currently studying animal care in the hopes of becoming a vet. He's the captain of SEVENTEEN and basically is the cringey grandpa, who is forever using dad jokes that are out of date. He's enthusiastic and is always giving the team pep talks which end up being too cheesey and everyone whines at him for it. He is also the standin coach as the last coach retired at the end of Seungcheol's 4th year. In games, he is in charge of 1st base.  

**2nd Base**

Yoon Junghan (Jeonghan) 22 (4|10|95) 4th Year

Junghan is in his 4th year of college and he's currently studying art and painting to become a successful artist in the future. He's in charge of 2nd base for SEVENTEEN and he mostly stands on his base and let's the short stop, Jisoo do most of the work. Despite being quite lazy while fielding, he is the fastest runner in SEVENTEEN and usually manages to score quite a lot of points for the team while batting. He's the team's lazy grandpa. He's forever being told off for napping during training.  

**3rd Base**

Jeon Wonwoo (Wonu) 22 (17|7|96) 4th Year

Wonwoo is in his 4th year of college and he's currently studying comedy. He's in charge of 3rd base for SEVENTEEN. His jokes rival Seungcheol's in terms of cheesiness and only Soonyoung seems to laugh at them. Wonwoo's pretty slow when it comes to running, but he can hit it quite far. He had to take time off from playing last year due to a medical condition and spent most of his summer break, building some of the lost muscle back up.  

* * *

**Pitcher**

Kim Mingyu (Mingew) 21 (6|4|97) 3rd Year

Mingyu is in his 3rd year of college and he's currently studying home economics, due to his gifted handiness in terms of cooking and repairs. When SEVENTEEN break any equipment, they usually end up going to him first to see if it can be repaired. However, usually, Mingyu is the one breaking the equipment. Mingyu has an unrivaled clumsiness in SEVENTEEN. That's why he's the pitcher. They didn't want to risk him being in a position which requires him to catch the ball at a crucial moment. He always seems to get out once, during a game because he'll trip up or something. Luckily, most of the time, he's hit it far enough to just manage to stay in. The members also have to be wary of Mingyu's hygiene. He has a tendency to wipe his germs on the other members. However, he is very enthusiastic during matches and helps maintain a fun atmosphere.  

* * *

**Catcher**

Lee Jihoon (Woozi) 21 (22|11|96) 3rd Year

Jihoon is in his 3rd year of college and he's studying to become a producer and composer. Due to Jihoon's great catching skills and his immunity to the heat that the catcher's uniform gives him, they made him SEVENTEEN's catcher. He's one of the most hardworking of the group and has a great amount of upper body strength and accuracy. He usually hits the pitches the furthest. However, he is also the slowest member of SEVENTEEN. His skills as a catcher make up for it and if the batter doesn't manage to hit the ball, the likelihood is that you're not getting to 1st base. He is SEVENTEEN's grumpy grandpa. His nickname Woozi comes from him having an incredibly low alcohol tolerance.  

* * *

**Short Stop**

Hong Jisoo (Joshua) 22 (30|12|95) 4th Year

Jisoo is in his 4th year of college and he's studying to become an astrologist and meteologist. Most the members are constantly teasing him to predict the weather for their matches. He usual ends up having to take the roll of the responsible adult of the group as the others tend to act as though they're still in preschool, except Jihoon, but Jihoon's solutions to issues tend to be to kill the issue, which leave Jisoo questioning Jihoon's morals. Jisoo is the short stop of SEVENTEEN, due to his ability to easily cooperate with Junghan. A lot of the team would claim that this comes from Jisoo being in love with Junghan.  

* * *

**Rover**

Lee Chan (Dino) 19 (11|2|99) 1st Year

Chan is in his 1st year at college and he's studying to become a historian. He's the youngest in the team and usually finds himself watching the older members mess about. He's the rover for SEVENTEEN and while his batting skills still need a bit of work, his skills as a rover are good. He's still learning, but, as he only ever played Softball in his last year of highschool previously, his skills are coming on at an insane rate.  

**1st Rotation Outfielders**

Lee Seokmin (DK/Dokyeom) 21 (18|2|97) 3rd Year

Seokmin is in his 3rd year at college and he's studying childcare, in the hopes of becoming a teacher for younger children. He's always smiling during games, even the ones they lose. He wants to make sure the other members are always smiling. He's quite loud and you can usually hear him from the other end of the pitch, which is good when you need to know who he is throwing to. Seokmin has the best long distance throws in SEVENTEEN. He usually fields in the area behind 3rd base and 4th. He rotates to field behind 1st and 2nd for left handers.  

Kwon Soonyoung (Hoshi) 22 (15|6|96) 4th Year

Soonyoung is in his 4th year at college and he's studying dance. He's the second fastest after Junghan. However, unlike Junghan, Soonyoung seems to have endless amounts of energy. Even when Soonyoung is dripping with sweat, he's still the most energetic alongside Seokmin. Soonyoung is a great allrounder player. He hits a good ball, most the time. Soonyoung can't throw as far as Seokmin, but he can usually reach the ball faster. He fields in the area behind 2nd base and 3rd.  

**2nd Rotation Outfielders**

Wen Junhui (Jun) 22 (10|6|96) 4th Year

Junhui is in his 4th year at college and he's studying drama and acting so he can eventually return to the acting world as a far better actor. Junhui is a relatively quiet member, but he manages to do his job as a fielder. In the 2nd rotation of fielding, Junhui replaces Seokmin's position. Junhui doesn't quite have Seokmin's throwing distance, but he can throw it further than Soonyoung and he's faster than Seokmin. The members have noticed that Junhui takes the longest to get changed before and after matches and he spends a considerable amount of that time in front of a mirror.  

Xu Minghao (The8) 20 (7|11|97) 2nd Year

Minghao is in his 2nd year at college and he's studying to become a psychologist. He's a great judge of character and spends quite a lot of time finding out the secrets of the other members so he can hold it against him. He gives off the vibe of a cute guy, but he can get up to more mischief than Junghan when he wants to. He often argues with Mingyu and moans about his constant clumsiness. However, he only does this because the two are great friends. Minghao replaces Soonyoung in the 2nd rotation of fielding. He is currently the 3rd fastest in SEVENTEEN, but he is quickly catching up with Soonyoung. He has a slightly greater throwing range than Soonyoung and he can hit the ball a little bit further than Soonyoung.  

* * *

**Substitute Players**

Boo Seungkwan (Divaboo) 20 (16|1|98) 2nd Year

Seungkwan is in his 2nd year at college and he's studying to become a singer. He's the biggest drama queen of the group. As much as he loves sport, he isn't great at it and before Chan joined the team, he was the rover. Seungcheol is training him to become a player, who can play in all positions, just in case anyone can't play during a match. Seungkwan trains more than the others so he can be a great substitute. He wants to make sure that he can make it so the other members won't be worried about not being able to play. Seungkwan is pretty good at batting though and despite being quite slow, he can usually hit it a reasonable distance. Seungkwan is very good at encouraging the others to play their best and everyone is thankful for it. Although, they wish that Seungkwan wouldn't feel the need to cheer them on by singing.  

Hansol Vernon Choi (Vernon) 20 (18|2|98) 2nd Year

Hansol is in his 2nd year at college and he's studying rap. No one really knows why he joined the group. Maybe he was just dragged along by Seungkwan? However, the team greatly appreciate his chill vibes, even if they pray they never have to have him field. Hansol isn't the most energetic person and his laziness rivals Junghan's. Hansol is great to talk to during training as he usually takes it easy. When doesn't he take it easy? Seungcheol's training him to become good on bases, but Hansol can be quite easily distracted. However, he makes good cheers for the team. Whenever a member is stressed out, they will go to him and he will calm them down. He's more like the team's mum at times, but it's fine.


	2. Enter Chan the Rover!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan meets the team and realises that he's officially screwed

**5th September 2018**

The gate towered above him. Chan was nervous. It was his first day of College. He wanted to make sure everything went well and it did, until everyone began discussing potential clubs they were going to join. Chan wanted to join a Softball team, but so far he hadn’t seen any teams or sign up sheets from walking around. He could have sworn that Pledis was famous for their Softball team.

“Ah! Mingyu! You’re so clumsy!” Chan heard someone whine. He could hear a slight Chinese accent in the person.

“Sorry! I just tripped!” A guy, Chan could only presume was Mingyu, responded. He could hear shuffling from behind him and he slowly turned around.

“Over what? Thin air? Hurry up! We’ll be late.” The original guy moaned.

“It’s fine. Coups has to register the Softball club again with the college anyway.” Mingyu rose. Chan grinned, turning to them.

“You guys are in the softball club?” Chan questioned.

“Yeah.” Mingyu beamed. “Why are you a freshman? Are you interested in joining?” He leaned in.

“Yeah, but I couldn’t find any posters or anything.” Chan was struggling to contain his excitement.

The Chinese guy laughed. “Seungcheol probably forgot to tell Jeonghan and Joshua to put the posters up. This team’s really hopeless.”

Mingyu could only laugh in response, “I agree. Anyway, kid follow us! We’ll take you to meet the others.”

“I’m not a kid.” Chan pouted.

“How old are you?” The shorter of the two quized.

“I’m 19!” He moaned in response.

“Yup! Still a kid.” Mingyu confirmed. “And it’s not like we know your name anyway.”

“It’s Chan.” Chan exclaimed, trying to keep up with the taller two’s long steps.

“It’s nice to meet you, Chan.” The non-clumsy one smiled. “I’m Minghao, by the way, and the clumsy, idiot over there is Mingyu. If he offers you a handshake, don’t accept it. You don’t know the last time he washed his hands.”

“I’m not an idiot!” Mingyu nudged Minghao. Chan was excited. He was finally on his way to joining the softball team and he had just met two funny players. The walk didn’t take too long and Chan soon found himself in a spare classroom.

“This is our clubroom. Basically we hold discussions here when we’re not training and stuff, but most of the team just come here to chat usually.” Minghao explained as Mingyu opened the door.

“We brought fresh meat!” Mingyu announced and pulled Chan into the room. Everyone quietened down and stared at Chan.

“Hi, I’m Chan.” He barely managed to mumble, losing all confidence in front of the others.

“Right! I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Mingyu grinned. “The one sleeping over there is Jeonghan. He’s lazy, but he’s our second base and our fastest runner. Beware, his angelic appearance is a lie. Don’t trust any of the pretty ones, except Wonwoo.” He blushed a little and looked to the side. “He’s chill. Anyway, the one Jeonghan has his head resting on is Josh. Josh is our shortstop. He ends up doing most of the work between him and Jeonghan, but he doesn’t mind, as like you will here, Josh is in love with him, but he won’t admit it.”

“I don’t love Jeonghan!” Jisoo exclaimed.

“There we go. Next, we have the idiot trio, who seem to be way too energetic. We have DK, he’s the one who’s always smiling.” Seokmin flashed Chan a smile to emphasise Mingyu’s point. “He’s one of our outfielders. Then there’s Hoshi, he’s usually dancing or moving about. Basically, he never stays still and it’s annoying.” Soonyoung was currently jumping up and down for no apparent reason. “He’s also an outfielder. Then, there’s Seungkwan, who’s basically a diva. He’s great though, but he can be a tad melodramatic at times.”

“I’m not melodramatic! You’re the one always going on about Won-” Seungkwan began.

“Moving swiftly on.” Mingyu was currently covering Seungkwan’s mouth. “Woozi is the one that’s actually doing work. Wave Woozi!” Jihoon just stuck his middle finger up before going back to work. “He can be a little grouchy. He does an insane amount of work though, so try not to irritate him to much. He won’t respond very well. He’s kind of in the middle of a massive piece of coursework at the moment so he’s quite stressed out. He’s very reliable in a match though. He’s our catcher.”

“Are these actual names?” Chan questioned, not quite believing the idea that some parent would call their child DK or Woozi.

“No, they’re just nicknames. They’re meant to make it easier for us during the match, but most of them are just pure crack. They’re not even usually shorter than our actual names. We just use them for fun. Like for example, Jihoon’s nickname Woozi came from his low alcohol tolerance.” Seungkwan explained. “Seokmin is DK’s real name and Soonyoung is Hoshi’s. Joshua is technically Jisoo’s English name.”

Mingyu nodded, “Now then, we have Jun and Wonu next. Jun, or Junhui, is the blonde haired guy. He’s another outfielder. Then, there’s Wonwoo, the black haired guy, he’s our 3rd base. Those two are best friends so you’ll see them together a lot, but you’ll also see The8 with Jun a lot, as they’re both Chinese so they like to practice Korean together. It’s also nice for them to occasionally speak Chinese to each other.” 

“Mingyu and I also hang out a lot.” Wonwoo slid over and comfortably placed an arm around Mingyu. “It’s a shame we couldn’t manage to keep our 4 bed apartment. Jun and I miss your cooking. Minghao got the lucky end of the deal.” Mingyu laughed in response.

“So what position are you?” Chan questioned Mingyu.

“Oh! I’m the pitcher!” Mingyu beamed again.

“I’m another outfielder!” Minghao pointed out. “Also, I’m The8, before you get even more confused. Don’t expect to remember all our names straight away though as there are 12 of us. Most of us have it on our softball kit anyway!” Chan smiled.

The door opened. “Right the softball club has been approved again. Oh!” The guy who had just entered through the door, looked down at Chan with large eyes. “Who’s this?”

“This is Chan!” Minghao pointed out. “He wants to join the team.”

“Ok. I’m Seungcheol, the captain and stand in coach, but you can call me S.Coups.” Seungcheol beamed. “Have you played before?” Chan nodded. “What position?”

“Rover.” Chan smiled as he found Seungcheol’s strangely contagious. He heard someone stand and turned to see Jihoon heading towards them. Jihoon completely ignored Chan and instead went and grabbed Seungcheol’s hands.

“Ah!” Seungcheol whined slightly. “Everytime.” Jihoon was feeling up Seungcheol’s hands. Chan was not sure how to feel about this.

“Jihoonie!” Seungkwan moaned. “We have a foetus here now so please take your weird hand fetish somewhere else!” Jihoon turned and glared at Seungkwan, but stopped none the less.

“To be fair, it’s odd that Woozi hasn’t checked out Chan’s hands yet.” Jisoo stated.

“I don’t need to. Even from here I can tell that they’re only slightly better than Mingyu’s. Besides, no one can beat Seungcheol’s hands anyway.” Jihoon turned and went back to his work.

“Well, it’s good we finally have a rover.” Seungcheol sighed, smiling.

“Wait! Don’t I have to tryout or something first?” Chan was bewildered.

“Nope. We have a lot of members anyway. Besides, if we did have tryouts then Seungkwan and Hansol probably wouldn’t be on the team.” Seungcheol shrugged. “Anyway, Josh can you wake up Jeonghan and then I’ll begin!” Jisoo instantly started shaking Jeonghan in an attempt to waking up.

Minghao walked over to Jeonghan and leaned forward, whispering into his ear. “Jeonghan wake up or I’ll read your internet search history out to everyone.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” Jeonghan suddenly sat upright. Seeing the innocent grin on Minghao’s face caused Jeonghan to scowl. “I hate you.”

“I love you too!” Minghao beamed. “Of course not in a romantic way.”

“Let’s begin.” Seungcheol quickly tried to change the topic. “It’s nice to see everyone again! I hope everyone has been keeping in shape. However, knowing you lot you probably haven’t, especially you, Jeonghan, and probably Vernon, but that’s not a surprise, so I decided that next weekend, we’re going to have an all weekend training camp from hell!” Everyone groaned, except Chan, Soonyoung and Jihoon. “Don’t worry, I’ve already contacted all of your families, except you, Chan, but I will do that after this meeting. everyone else’s familys said that it’s fine. Saying that, Woozi and Hoshi have probably continued working hard during summer, so if you two need to, you don’t have to come.”

“I’ll come!” Soonyoung instantly agreed. He was one of the only ones who never found the training camps torture.

Jihoon thought about it. “It depends how much of my coursework I can get done by then.”

“Ok! As for the rest of you, we will meet up at 9am-”

“That’s too early!” Jeonghan whined.

“Well, it’s either that or we leave on the Friday at 10pm and it’s just over a 4 hour drive.” Seungcheol debated.

“Seungcheol, I think you forget that most of us would still be awake at that point.” Soonyoung pointed out.

“Fine, is 10pm on Friday fine with everyone?” Seungcheol received a load of nods from around the room. “Ok. Now that that’s agreed, let’s move on to room arrangements. We’re going to Busan for training and we’ll mostly be training on the beach, not playing. I’ve booked several hotel rooms and they’re all 2 kingsized beds, so that’s 4 per a room. However, due to the addition of Chan, someone will either have to sleep on the floor or we’ll have to have 3 people squeeze into one of the beds.”

“I’m pretty sure if Chan, Hoonie and someone shared, it should work.” Junhui suggested, earning a glare from Jihoon, which, Chan was learning, was quite a frequent thing.

“Woozi might not be coming anyway.” Jeonghan added.

“I know, but just in case.” Seungcheol rubbed his forehead. “We can sort out the other rooms, anyway. The8, Jun, Wonwoo and Mingyu are you guys happy to share a room?”

“Yeah! It will be just like last year!” Mingyu beamed, getting excited already.

“Cool and Seungkwan, Hansol, Soonyoung and Seokmin are you guys happy to share a room?” Seungcheol questioned.

“Why? Do you want to end up sharing a bed with Woozi?” Seungkwan smirked. Everyone knew if anyone had to share a bed with Jeonghan, Jisoo would no longer let it be anyone but himself, and occasionally Jihoon. However, he only allowed Jihoon because he didn't want to lose his guitar forever. So if Jeonghan, Jisoo, Seungcheol, Jihoon and Chan ended up sharing a room, Seungcheol would inevitably end up sharing with Jihoon and Chan. 

“I just want to make sure that Woozi doesn’t do anything in the night. He has weird sleeping habits.” Seungcheol defended.

“And you would know all about his sleeping habits, wouldn’t you?” Soonyoung joined in on the teasing.

“Remember! Woozi and I once shared an apartment!” Seungcheol pointed out.

“And why did you stop?” Seokmin also picked up on the teasing that was happening.

“We were kicked out as there were people from that rich college on the other side of town and the landlord could milk more money out of them. Seungcheol ended up rooming with Jisoo and Jeonghan for a bit and they ended up getting a larger apartment with 3 bedrooms and I found a cheap one on the other side of town.” Jihoon explained, ending the teasing with a scowl.

“Exactly.” Seungcheol stated. “Anyway, that’s basically the arrangements. We’ll take the minivan and me, Josh and Jeonghan will bring food, but you guys can bring snacks if you want. Just please don’t make yourself sick like last year. I’m looking at you DK.” Seokmin quickly looked away.

“In his defence, I’m pretty sure he built some kind of record for the chubby bunny challenge.” Soonyoung wrapped a protective arm over Seokmin.

“Anyway, that’s basically it. Other than that, we’ll have training as usual, so that’s Saturday at 1pm until 3pm, Tuesday at 6pm until 7:30pm and Thursday at the same time as Tuesday. Meet at the changing rooms.” Seungcheol informed the others. “Any questions?”

“Where do we meet for the trip?” Jisoo questioned.

“In front of the college gates. Oh yeah, make sure you go to the toilet before you go as we are not pulling over again, especially after what happened a couple years ago!”

“What happened a couple years ago?” Chan looked at the others.

“We ended up pulling over because DK was about to piss himself and while he was pissing, a man came out and started chasing him. In all fairness, we probably shouldn’t have pulled over in such a public area.” Jeonghan explained. 

“In my defense, it was pitch black outside and you guys pulled over there.” Seokmin yelled.

“Ok. That’s enough of that.” Seungcheol ended the discussion, before it got too awkward. “I’ll see you all tomorrow for practice at 6! You’re free to leave!” He ended the meeting and few members went and left, but some stayed to chat.

Chan was officially in for one hell of a ride with these guys.


	3. Whose Baby are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan gets adopted into some messed up family and chaos ensues.

** 6th September 2018 **

“Hey Chan.” Jeonghan poked him in the back. Chan turned around to see the long haired boy. “You grabbing lunch?”

“Yeah. My friend recommended this place to me.” Chan glanced around the cafe.

“It’s pretty good. Just don’t order anything with lettuce in it.” Jeonghan warned him.

“Why not?” Chan knew he would probably regret asking.

“Most the employees here run around in the backroom covered in lettuce with nothing underneath.” He explained.

“Can I ask how you know this?” Chan raised an eyebrow.

Jeonghan smiled, “I work here.” Chan’s face dropped. “What? It’s good pay.” Jeonghan shrugged, before laughing. “I’m joking! You’re so gullible!” He stood in front of Chan for a minute laughing about Chan’s facial expression. Eventually, he calmed down. “But still, don’t order anything with lettuce if you value your health.

“Oi! Jeonghan! Hurry up!” Jihoon yelled, as he left the backroom of the cafe, wearing a slightly oversized apron.

“I’m coming! I’m coming!” Jeonghan waved him off. “I’ve got to go, but if you need company, Josh and Coups usually come here during lunch. They should be here in a minute.” He turned, heading towards the counter, “Oh and don’t tell Josh about the lettuce! I think it’s hilarious watching him try and figure out what it really is.” He disappeared into the backroom, behind the counter. 

Chan stood for a minute. Then, he slowly made his way to the counter, where Jihoon was standing. Now that he was closer to the individual, he could spot the eyebags that dragged the short boys face down and how pale Jihoon’s skin really is. He could also spot how smooth Jihoon’s skin naturally was.

“What do you want?” Jihoon deadpanned. Truthfully, a part of Chan was scared of Jihoon, but a part of Chan was offended that Jihoon claimed that Chan’s weren’t good enough. He’s not entirely sure why that offends him as it should be fine as Jihoon isn’t going to suddenly start feeling his hands, but at the same time; WHY AREN’T CHAN’S HANDS GOOD ENOUGH?

Chan glanced at the menu behind Jihoon quickly, “Um… A mocha please and…” He glanced at the menu again, “Some ramyun.”

“Ok. That will be $5.35.” Jihoon held his hand out. Carefully, Chan gave him the money. “You might want to sit at a table for a minute, I’ll send Jeonghan to you with it.” Chan robotically began to move to a table, not wanting to disobey Jihoon. When he glanced back, Jihoon was already busy making Chan’s drink and passing a note to what he presumed was a chef.

Not long after Chan got his order, Jisoo and Seungcheol walked through the door. The two walk straight to the counter, not noticing Chan, who had strategically placed himself in a corner booth where he was less likely to be seen. However, the two were served by Jeonghan, who pointed them straight to Chan. The two placed their orders and then walked over to Chan.

“Hey Chan! I hope you don’t mind us sitting here because we’re going to anyway!” Seungcheol beamed and immediately placed his but down opposite Chan. Jisoo quickly followed suite.

“Don’t mind Coups. He just likes to bully the younger members.” Jisoo explained, giving Chan a sympathetic look.

“It’s not bullying! I just like to know my sons!” Seungcheol moaned.

“Again, they are not your sons; they are your team.” Jisoo rubbed his forehead. Chan wondered if the ‘again’ meant that they had this type of conversation a lot. He didn’t particularly like the idea of being someone’s son. Especially when said father was only about 4 years older than him. “Besides, if anything, I would be the father and you would be the granddad.” Jisoo whispered more to himself than anything, but Seungcheol heard.

“I am not the granddad! I am way too cool to be a granddad.” Seungcheol defended.

“Seungcheol, the only dad-like thing about you is your lame dad jokes.” Jeonghan added, as he came over with Seungcheol and Jisoo’s food. Chan noticed that Jisoo had a sandwich with lettuce in, but he didn't comment on it. Jeonghan gave him a look to remind him not to as well.

“My jokes are not lame.” Seungcheol pouted, grumpily poking his food with his fork.

“Besides, I’m clearly the dad of the softball team.” Jeonghan stated. “All the members love me.”

“More like the mum.” Seungcheol retorted.

“Well, if I was the mum, then you definitely wouldn’t be the dad, gramps!” Jeonghan debated. “I would rather have Josh as a husband over you any day.” This statement caused Jisoo to half choke on his food, but Seungcheol and Jeonghan were too busy having a stare off to notice. Chan, however, was kind enough to pass Jisoo’s drink to him.

“Chan, you decide! Who would you rather have as your parent; me or Jeonghan?” Seungcheol dragged Chan into their argument. Chan could feel the pressure, as the two stared at him. Chan couldn’t decide, but Seungcheol was giving off the vibe of a puppy, who would only cry if Chan didn’t pick him. Whereas, the vibe Jeonghan was giving off was that if Chan didn’t choose Jeonghan, he would make Chan’s life miserable.

“Jeonghan…” Chan murmured, to protect his soul. Seungcheol instantly turned into a hurt puppy, while Jeonghan was excited by the victory.

“From now on, you are my son, Dino!” Jeonghan announced. “Whose baby are you, Dino?”

“Dino?” Chan questioned. “How the heck did you come up with that?”

“Well, you kind of remind me of a dinosaur and I heard that you’re studying history.” Jeonghan explained. “Now, whose baby are you?”

“Wait! Wait! Wait a second!” Chan raised a hand. “How did you know I was taking history?”   


“Minghao told me.” Jeonghan shrugged. “Now, answer me. Whose baby are you?” 

“How did Minghao know?” Chan was beginning to get worried. He didn’t remember telling Minghao what he was studying in the past 24 hours of knowing him.

“We never question how Minghao gets his information. He has managed to get dirt on all of us. God knows how he gets it, but if you have any dark secrets, likelihood is that Minghao already knows it.” Seungcheol warned.

“Now,” Jeonghan gritted his teeth. “Whose baby are you, Dino?”

“Jeonghan’s.” Chan instinctively responded in order to protect his life. Before Jeonghan could make a fuss of his newly born child, Jihoon was dragging Jeonghan away and he had a growing lump on the back of his head.

“Woozi’s just salty that he couldn’t come over here himself.” Hansol came over with a tray filled with empty cups.

“How long have you been here?” Jisoo sounded shocked, having not seen Hansol since arriving.

“About half an hour. Me and Seungkwan have been working in the kitchen.” Hansol explained, calming Jisoo down. “Are you guys still eating?” Hansol gestured to their table and without noticing, they had all finished their food.

“Yeah, we’re done.” Seungcheol answered. Hansol smiled and started clearing their table. Chan thanked him as he took Chan’s bowl.

“Don’t drop it!” Jisoo told him as Hansol walked away with a rather full tray. Hansol just waved it off, but a couple steps later, nearly tripped over a stool. He stayed standing. However, Jisoo couldn’t help but keep an eye on Hansol as he made his way to the kitchen. The boy wasn’t exactly clumsy, he just had a tendency to zone out and not watch where he’s going. “That boy is too relaxed for his own good.” Jisoo sighed.

“In his defense, him and the idiot trio have yet to burn down their apartment.” Seungcheol remind Jisoo. Chan vaguely remembered Mingyu referring to 3 of the members of the softball team as the idiot trio yesterday. If he remembered correctly, the members were Seungkwan, Hoshi and DK. He couldn’t remember their real names though.

“A miracle to this day.” Jisoo expanded on the subject. “Wait. Did Vernon attend the meeting yesterday?” He couldn’t remember seeing Hansol since college broke up for summer last year.

Seungcheol’s face dropped. “That little-”

“Calm down, S.Coups.” Seungkwan sang as he approached them. “Don’t worry; I already informed Vernon about everything he missed yesterday and I will make sure he remembers about training tonight. I also put the dates in Vernon’s phone so he shouldn’t forget.” Seungcheol thanked him, but still stated that Hansol was going to receive a punishment at training tonight.

“Are you and Jeonghan actually doing work?” Jisoo questioned. Hansol had at least been clearing tables and Jihoon was working his but off, as always.

“How dare you, Hong Jisoo!” Seungkwan dramatically stepped back in shock. “I, Boo Seungkwan, always try my utmost hardest!” He held the position for a minute, before relaxing slightly. “I am hurt that you would make such accusations! I have been making sure Hansol doesn’t break anything!” Seungkwan finished relaxing entirely.

“So, you’ve basically just been watching Vernon work this whole time?” Seungcheol raised an eyebrow.

“No! I’ve been helping him!” Seungkwan huffed, his face heating up, before escaping back to the kitchen.

“He’s totally in love with him.” Jisoo stated and both Seungcheol and Chan found them agreeing. Chan hadn’t even know the two boys for long.

Seungcheol tilted his head slightly, “Does that mean Chan didn’t meet Vernon yesterday?” Jisoo and Seungcheol both glanced over to Chan, who shook his head in response. Seungcheol sighed. “Basically, Hansol, also known as Vernon, is on the softball team for some reason. He can’t really play softball, but he can be so slow when it comes to following orders, that he’s quite fun to have on the team. He’s also one of our friends by this point. We just hope there nothing comes a time where he has to actually play in a match.”

“I’m pretty sure Vernon joined because Seungkwan did. You know how close those two are.” Jisoo added, before looking at the time. “Ah! I need to go. I’ll see you both at practice!” He rose, grabbing his bag and heading to see door. They both waved and they heard Jeonghan say bye to Jisoo, when Jisoo left. Seungcheol left a couple minutes later, followed by Chan.

Chan’s day continued as normal, his lectures were boring, but nothing really happened, other than he nearly fell asleep in his final lecture of the day. Eventually, Chan found himself heading to his first training session for the softball team. He was nervous. He didn’t want to mess up, especially as today was his first time training with them. Leaving the wrong impression about himself was the one thing he didn’t want to do. However, as he got into the changing rooms, he was more worried that the other members were the ones who were leaving bad impressions.

Minghao and Mingyu were fighting over something and Seungcheol was trying his best to sort it out, while holding back his laughter. For some reason, Minghao and Mingyu were covered in coke and there was a half full coke bottle stood on the floor. However, the contents were mainly foam.

“WHAT SORT OF IDIOT EXPERIMENTS WITH MENTOS AND COKE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRAINING ROOM?” Minghao yelled at Mingyu. Suddenly, it all made sense.

“I just wanted to see what would happen if you put mentos in a bottle of coke that had been shaken up.” Mingyu defended.

“IN THE CHANGING ROOMS?” Minghao responded. The argument continued like that for a few minutes, before Seungcheol finally managed to separate the two. Everyone else, excluding Junhui, had gotten changed by that point, unaffected by the duo’s arguing. Chan slowly moved round to a spot in the changing rooms, once the two were finished. He noticed a lot of the members were just wearing random clothing for training and enjoyed the fact that there wasn’t a practice uniform he had to abide by. He assumed Seungcheol would tell him about actual uniforms for matches at some point, but for now, he just put on his own tracksuit bottoms and top.

Once everyone had finished getting changed and somehow managed to drag Junhui away from the mirror, everyone gathered around Seungcheol. “Right. Seeing as this is the first practice, we’ll start with a few stretching exercises, except you, Vernon!” Seungcheol pointed at Hansol, who could only stare back. “You forgot to attend the meeting yesterday, so you can spend the first part of practice, running 5 laps around the pitch!” Seungcheol ordered. “And no cutting corners!” He waited for Hansol to drag himself off and around the pitch. “The rest of us will start with some stretching exercises. I assume you guys all know your body’s best by this point so you can lead your own warm up because you should know what you need to stretch out the most by this point." Everyone moaned, but eventually began to stretch themselves in little groups. Chan noticed most of them conversing. However, he picked up on the fact that Jihoon focused mainly on stretching out his back and Soonyoung was focusing on getting his legs warmed up. Chan, himself, knew that he tendency to tense up his shoulders, so he started with them. He kept an eye on the others to make sure he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

After about 5 minutes, Seungcheol called everyone back over. Hansol had just about finished his 5 laps by that point. However, Chan noted that Hansol had, in fact, only done 3; Hansol just lied about doing 5 to try and get out of doing 5, and he succeeded. “We’re going to focus on batting today, as at the end of last season, everyone’s batting skills were getting a bit worse. Here’s how we’ll do it. We’ll work it a bit like cricket. I’ll still be on first base and Woozi will still be catcher. Mingyu will also pitch, but everyone else fields, except 2 people who will bat. You can bat until you get out and then you swap with someone else. You can get players out like normal, but the batters will be running in between the batter’s box and 1st base. Getting from one base to another counts as one point. The person with the least points at the end, after everyone has batted, has to run 5 laps, while piggybacking Woozi. If Woozi loses, he has to run 3 laps with Hoshi on his back. No, I’m not picking favourites, it’s just that Hoshi is heavier than Woozi, so it will be harder for Woozi to run all 5 laps. To make sure everyone gets a go, when I bat, Jeonghan will be on 1st base, when Woozi bats, Seungkwan will be catcher and when Mingyu bats, Joshua will pitch. Is that clear enough?” Everyone, except Hansol nodded and Seungcheol spotted Seungkwan re-explaining it to Hansol.

The first batters were Jeonghan and Jisoo. Jeonghan started off batting and Jisoo was stood at first. Jeonghan didn’t hit it that far and with more fielders than usual, it was quickly getting back to the batter’s box. Jeonghan easily made it to first and Jisoo just about made it to the batter’s box. They batted for about 5 rounds, before Jisoo didn’t quite make it to the batter’s box after one of Jeonghan’s hits. Jisoo was on 5 points when he got out. 

Junhui was next. The two batted for a while after that as Junhui was fast enough to keep up with Jeonghan’s dodgy hits, but eventually someone caught Junhui out. Junhui was on 13 points. It was better than Jisoo, but everyone was slowly becoming annoyed by the fact Jeonghan was gaining a lot of points.

“Coups!” Jeonghan yelled, while waiting for Soonyoung, “Is there a prize for getting the most points?”

Seungcheol thought about it for a minute. “When we go on the practice trip next week, the winner gets to spend the Sunday relaxing?” Everyone perked up at the thought of that.

Soonyoung batted with Jeonghan next and the two were there for ages. Jeonghan was finally caught out by Jihoon though, when one of the balls he hit went up and then backwards. Jeonghan managed to get 69 points though and boasted about the fact his number was 69.

Wonwoo batted next. He didn’t particularly care about getting the prize anymore as he didn’t believe he had the energy to get 69 points. He got 6 points, before letting himself get out, just so he didn’t have to do the laps. Jisoo was getting a little bit nervous by this point and Jeonghan was just giving him the occasional pat on the shoulder.

Jihoon was next to bat and Seungkwan replaced him as catcher. Due to Jihoon and Soonyoung’s batting skills, they stayed in for ages. The two were also one of the five who had continued exercising over summer. The other three, Chan, Wonwoo and Seungcheol, were all spread out. Seungcheol was stuck near first base. Wonwoo was only exercising to regain lost muscle from being ill and Chan was still getting to grips with everyone’s abilities. Soonyoung was the first to get out. He managed to beat Jeonghan’s 69 points though, which irritated Jeonghan. Soonyoung scored 101 points.

Seokmin was next to bat. Seokmin was one of the top 3 batters in the team and Jihoon and him stayed in for ages. Soonyoung was actually getting nervous as Jihoon got close to Soonyoung’s score. However, Jihoon got out just before he claimed his 96th point. Everyone cheered when Junhui managed to catch Jihoon out.

Mingyu joined Seokmin as a batter, but didn’t stay for long. Mingyu had decided to buy shoes with laces and due to his unfortunate luck, they kept coming undone, so he kept tripping over, more than usual. Jisoo managed to get him out, before he even managed to get 3 points, which was a relief for Jisoo as it meant he would not be doing the laps.

Minghao batted after Mingyu. He had quite a good run alongside Seokmin, but inevitably, Seokmin got out. Seokmin finished on 53 points.

Seungkwan managed to somehow score more points than Jisoo while batting. He got to 8, before he failed to hit the ball 3 times in a row and Jihoon got him and Minghao out. Minghao finished up on a reasonable 17 points.

Chan and Hansol were up next. Hansol managed to get 3 points before getting out, which caused everyone to have a fit as he had gotten 3 points. Hansol, who couldn’t do sport to save his life, got 3 fricking points!

Seungcheol was the last one to bat. Chan was a lot more nervous with Seungcheol batting with him and his nerves eventually got the better of him and he got out on 13 points. Seungcheol ended up having to bat on his own. It didn’t make too much of a difference and it meant he didn’t have to watch out for anyone else. He got out on 23 points.

Soonyoung was happy to know that he won with his 101 points. It annoyed Jihoon and Jeonghan, who had been 2nd and 3rd, as it meant they couldn’t relax on the Sunday of next week. Although, Jihoon was still undecided on whether he would be going or not. However, most the members expected he would as Seungcheol had said he would be sharing a bed with him (and Chan, but that’s a minor detail) and a everyone knew that Jihoon would look at Seungcheol slightly differently to the others. It helped that Seungcheol’s hands seemed to be the best according to Jihoon’s hand fetish.

Chan was relieved though. Practice had gone better than he thought it would and he was happy to know he didn’t have to run 5 laps carrying Jihoon. He did take great pleasure in watching, with the others, Mingyu run with Jihoon on his back though. It grew extra funny, when Mingyu’s laces came undone yet again during the 3rd lap and he ended up tripping over with Jihoon on his back. Chan had never been so scared for someone else’s life, until he saw Jihoon nearly strangle Mingyu. Thankfully, Seungcheol managed to pry him off of Mingyu in time. All the other members were laughing. Jihoon threw them all a scowl at first, but soon found himself laughing and scolding Mingyu, half seriously, about his clumsiness and Mingyu’s choice in shoes. Minghao would probably repeat the message later.

Chan was looking forward to spending his time as a member of this team, even though there was a chance that one of them had information he could use against Chan, one of them could probably commit a murder and one of them was forever going to be getting him to answer the question: “whose baby are you?”


	4. Dino's Library Date with his Own Species

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan learns that there are some people you should not mess with and one of them is Minghao.

** 8th September 2018 **

Chan was currently in 20, the only library on campus, searching for a history book on the Korean civil war. He already knew a lot about the war from learning about it in highschool, but it was always good to pick up extra knowledge. He had been assigned his first piece of coursework already and he was pretty annoyed about it, which was reasonable, as he had only been at college for about 4 days. He figured that history was probably going to wind up being a pretty stressful subject.

“Wonwoo! You said you were taking me some place fun!” Chan heard the distinct whine from the rare Mingyu species of vulgar hygiene and pure clumsiness. Over the past few days of knowing the members of the softballl team, Chan had learned quite a lot about Mingyu. When Chan first met Mingyu, he thought that Mingyu was what most, in highschool, would refer to as a ‘popular’. However, after watching Mingyu interact with the others, Chan learnt that Mingyu was basically a giant toddler, who needed constant surveillance to avoid global destruction by the spread of some unidentified disease or by Mingyu literally blowing something up. He also quickly learnt that Mingyu is unintentionally loud. Mingyu could be whispering and the whole of the softball team -and probably college campus- could hear it. However, Chan had not been told about any of Mingyu’s good qualities yet. He vaguely remembered Wonwoo mentioning Mingyu’s cooking when they first met though.

“I lied.” Chan could only guess, Wonwoo said that. “I needed to bribe you here, so you would finish your holiday work for home economics.” Chan didn’t know Wonwoo that well. He had only heard the dark haired guy make the occasional lame joke now and then. However, Chan liked the chill vibe he gave off; it almost seemed liked Mingyu and Wonwoo balanced each other.

Chan chose to eavesdrop on their conversation from a safe distance, for research. He wondered if this is what Minghao did to get all the information he has on the other members, but then again, he couldn’t see Minghao.

“But, theory is so boring! Why can’t it just all be practical?” Mingyu continued to whine, he was earning some looks from other students, who were getting worried that Mingyu’s loud behaviour may continue to torment them.

“Because there would be no evidence of your knowledge.” Wonwoo explained. “Now, can you please be quieter, I know it’s hard for you, but I would quite like to be able to return to this library after today.” Chan was lucky that his hiding place was nearby as it allowed him to hear Wonwoo. He was also lucky that his hiding place was right by the books he needed.

A while past like that with Chan listening in on their boring conversation for research, while also researching for history and debating which is the most useful book. Eventually, Mingyu got bored again and started gossiping with Wonwoo about others.

“Do you think Josh and Jeonghan are dating?” Mingyu had somehow managed to get Wonwoo on the subject of the other members.

“Not publically at least.” Wonwoo shrugged.

“Well, of course not! I wouldn’t have asked you if it was publically!” Mingyu’s voice raised slightly and he received another chorus of shushes from the other students.

“I don’t know and to be fair, isn’t it better for us if they’re not publically dating? I mean, they already constantly eye fuck around everyone. Imagine if they moved onto constantly kissing and cuddling.” Wonwoo pointed out.

“True, but at the same time, the idea of not knowing kills me.” Mingyu returned.

“If you’re that desperate to know, sneak into their apartment.” Wonwoo was getting slightly annoyed that Mingyu had given up on his work and was now trying to get Wonwoo to gossip.

“Ew… no! If they can barely keep their hands off of each other in public, imagine what they get up to when they’re in their apartment!” Mingyu quickly shut down the idea. Of course, he didn’t shut it down quietly and he was getting quite a few disgusted looks.

Wonwoo sighed. “I don’t know then. Ask Minghao if you that badly want to know.”

“No way! That’s like selling your soul!” Mingyu raised his hands.

“Dude, he’s your best friend!” Wonwoo stated.

“That status means nothing when it comes to Minghao’s information network! He probably can hear our conversation right now.” Mingyu leaned in.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole campus could hear you Mingyu.” Wonwoo rubbed his forehead.

“Shut up! At least the neighbours don’t complain about me listening to loud music in the middle of the night.” Mingyu pouted.

“The reason I have to listen to music in the middle of the night is because I end up working on my coursework at that point as some idiot is forever distracting me in the library.” Wonwoo gritted his teeth slightly. “At least you no longer live with us so I don’t have you pestering me at night as well."

“The only reason I’m unable to pester you now is because you don’t answer my texts and because The8 set up a 10pm curfew rule.” Mingyu whined.

“A 10pm curfew rule?” Wonwoo held back a snicker.

“Yes. I’m not allowed to get back to the dorm any later than 10pm or else.”

“Or else what?”

“I don’t know! He won’t ever tell me!” Mingyu whined. “But I doubt it’s good! He’ll probably reveal some huge secret about me!”

“So you have some big secret?” 

“I don’t think so, but The8 knows everything! Even the stuff we don’t know!” 

It was around this point that Chan felt something grab his mouth and what appeared to be an arm grab his body. He went to scream, but there was a hand covering his mouth.

“Shhh…” Chan heard someone, who he presumed was the person holding him hostage. “Relax Dino. I’m not going to hurt you.” The arms around Chan slowly released and he quickly turned to face none other than Minghao. “I see someone is trying to replace me."

Chan shook his head. “No. I’m not. I’m just trying to find a decent history book on the Korean civil war.”

“It’s fine; I’m not mad. Your skills aren’t a threat to me.” Minghao smiled. “Now, I need to go creep Mingyu out.” Minghao moved away from the bookshelf. “Are you coming?” Chan nodded hastily, scared about what everyone had said and not said about Minghao. Chan had initially thought that Minghao was just some cute guy, who was stuck with the softball team, but boy was he wrong. Chan now believed that Minghao might as well be known as Thughao because the boy is as scary as hell.

“Mingyu, I hope you weren’t talking about me.” Minghao snook up on Mingyu. “It would make me very sad if you were.” Minghao faked a pout.

The colour in Mingyu’s face evaporated. “Of course not, Hao. We were just discussing how close Jeonghan and Josh have been recently. You wouldn’t happen to know anything would you?”

“Me? Know something about those two? Why would I?” Minghao pretended to look genuinely confused and Chan brought it for a second, before remembering the others warnings.

There was a brief pause. “So, Minghao, Chan, what are you doing here?” Wonwoo restarted the conversation.

“I was coming to make sure my best friend and roommate” Minghao glared at Mingyu “Was doing his work and wasn’t just slacking off and gossiping.”

“I would never slack off.” Mingyu defended, but judging by the fact that in the time he had been here, he had typed two paragraphs of his coursework, it was painfully obvious that he hadn’t been working.

“Ok! I believe you.” Minghao smiled and sat down, opening up a brightly coloured folder.

“What are you doing?” Mingyu tensed.

“Well, I figured that I might as well do some work seeing as I’m already here.” Minghao’s smile could have easily been mistaken for a grin. “Chan, why don’t you sit down and join us?” Chan quickly obliged and opened his laptop, getting ready to start his coursework.

“Wait, have you been set coursework already?” Mingyu interrupted Chan’s trail of thought before it could even begin.

“Yeah, I was set it yesterday.” Chan explained.

“And you’re already working on it?” Mingyu was shocked. Chan nodded.

“Chan’s hardworking unlike some people.” Wonwoo tapped Mingyu on the back of the head, with a book. Mingyu moaned slightly, but slowly went back to his work. However, they would not be surprised if Mingyu was actually playing games or messaging Junhui.

About an hour of silence and hard work, from most of them at least, passed before the door to the library was slammed open. Chan looked up from to find an angry Junhui charging towards them.

“Mingyu!” Junhui slammed a hand on the desk in front of Mingyu. “Stop messaging me and get back to work!” Junhui shout whispered.

“You came all the way to tell him that?” Wonwoo raised his head from a book. By the looks of it, Wonwoo himself had stopped working a while ago. However, it was probably because he had finished the work he needed to do. He now sat, reading Pride and Prejudice. Chan vaguely remembered his mum being obsessed with that book, but he didn’t question it. People like what people like.

“He continued to text me when I told him to piss off and even when I ignored him.” Junhui stated, glaring at Mingyu.

“Mingyu, you lied to me.” Mingyu made the mistake of meeting Minghao’s eyes. “You told me you were doing your work.”

“I was! I was! Jun’s lying!” Mingyu attempted to defend himself again.

“And now you’re calling Jun a liar?” Minghao rose.

“No!” Mingyu panicked. “Why does it matter to you anyway? It’s my life! You’re not my mum!”

“Such a shame.” Minghao shook his head. “I guess Jeonghan will have to hear about this.”

“No! Not Jeonghan! Anything but Jeonghan!” Mingyu rose to his feet and jumped behind Wonwoo. The whole of the library were staring at them by now, but no one said anything because a lot of them were intimidated by Mingyu and Wonwoo, when really they should be intimidated by Minghao.

Minghao hummed. “Ok, I guess I’ll let you off. As long as you do plenty of work right now. I want 2505 words at least, by the end of today.”

“Yes sir!” Mingyu saluted and immediately went back to work. Junhui shrugged and sat down. He decided that seeing as he was already here he might as well catch up. 

Eventually Chan gained the courage, mostly due to the fact Minghao had fallen asleep on Junhui’s shoulder, to lean over to Wonwoo, whom he was sat next to and whisper, “So why is Minghao and Jeonghan so dangerous exactly?”

Wonwoo glanced at Minghao for a second, before leaning back into Chan, “Minghao seems to know everything about all of us and he’s also studying psychology so we’re all pretty sure he can see our souls. Mingyu’s the only one who will occasionally argue with him, but that’s only if Mingyu’s pretty sure that he’s right.” Wonwoo gulped. “Jeonghan on the other hand will claim us as his children. He might look like an angel, but that boy was released from hell. He’s manipulative and scheming. If you’re ever going to play a game with Jeonghan, make sure you’re on his team because he cheats like no tomorrow and if you try to get revenge, then you will meet a horrible fate. Rumour has it, Jeonghan managed to trick Minghao once and get away with it.” Wonwoo explained. Chan hadn’t even realised how much danger he could potentially get into by hanging out with these people. Although, Chan is pretty amazed that they haven’t been kicked out of the library yet.

A while passed and Minghao was now awake. He had eventually gotten bored and returned to his apartment, not without reminding Mingyu of his threat though. Mingyu was currently sweating buckets, not literally, but he was borderline having a meltdown. Wonwoo, by the looks of it, had already managed to finish reading Pride and Prejudice and was watching Junhui do his work.

“Jun, what are we going to do for dinner?” Wonwoo whined. Chan didn’t know that neither Wonwoo nor Junhui could cook food which wasn’t a spice bomb. However, Chan could guess that the two weren’t the best at cooking; Chan wasn’t either, but he could just manage to get by.

“I don’t know.” Junhui shrugged. 

“Mingyu! Cook for us!” Wonwoo glanced over to Mingyu.

“What? No! I’m way too busy at the moment to do that.” Mingyu grumbled, scratching his head for the billionth time that hour.

“Mingyu, if you cook for us, I’ll convince Hao to not tell Jeonghan and to lower the amount of words.” Junhui debated. Minghao had a strange soft spot for Junhui, which most believed was because Minghao had a thing for Junhui, but none were brave enough to say that aloud, except Jeonghan maybe, but he was too lazy to do so. Most would argue, he was too busy with Jisoo to do so, though.

“Fine, but you have to buy the ingredients.” Shortly afterward, Mingyu shut his laptop and got up, “I wrote 2500 words, get it lowered to that.” He promptly walked out of the library, moaning that his brain hurt.

Chan was surprised to see Mingyu still in one piece at training that evening, but then again, only an hour had passed since Chan last saw him, so a murder could still occur. Training went relatively similar as to last time, except they split into smaller groups and Seungcheol and Jihoon went around suggesting ways to improve. However, at the end they did the same exercise that they did yesterday and today Jihoon managed to beat Soonyoung by 2 points, which meant Seungcheol would pay for Jihoon’s dinner tomorrow, as apparently it was softball tradition to meet up for a meal on the first Friday of every month. However, it should have been last Friday if they were to follow that tradition, but they weren’t back at college, yet, on that Friday. The loser of that night was Hansol and, because Jihoon had nearly received a concussion on the last training session, Chan found himself being carried by Hansol during the 10 laps, - apparently someone had decided 5 wasn’t enough- but unlike Mingyu, Hansol didn’t trip over, he just slowly collapsed into a pile of goo and everyone laughed at him. Chan was informed about the meal, by text from Seungcheol, later that night and all in all, he was excited. It would allow him to see how the group acted together, when they weren’t talking about softball.

However, there was one thing that Chan couldn’t get out of his head; he couldn’t stop wondering if he would actually see Mingyu at that meal tomorrow.


	5. Channie Dances it Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan realises that he is unable to say no to anyone in this group. Also, that the group is very split on the topic of Lemonade vs Cola

**9th September 2018**

Chan’s not sure where he’s ended up. He finished his class for today and walked to where he thought the entrance was, but here he was in the middle of a corridor he doesn’t recognise. This is the last time he let’s himself be last out. It’s all because of his damn folder. In all fairness, it’s probably his own fault for not telling his mum that his folder had a broken binder before going to college. Now, he needs to folder to his growing list of needed supplies. By the time he had picked up all of the sheets that had fallen out, everyone had already left him behind and now, he’s lost. Luckily, some other students were still in other classrooms, so he just had to wait for one of them to finish. In the meantime, he’ll investigate the melody coming from one of the rooms.

Fortunately, the door was slightly ajar, so he could easily peer inside, where he saw some of the members of the softball team. He recognised Soonyoung and Jihoon, immediately, and after a little bit of thought, pins the name Seokmin to the other guy. He can see Jihoon is sat at what he guesses, from the noise it makes, is a piano. Seokmin is singing and he thinks that Soonyoung is dancing, but Soonyoung’s isn’t as easily viewable from Chan’s position. However, from what Chan does see, Soonyoung is a very good dancer.

Chan’s so distracted by the trio’s performance that he doesn’t notice the class next door finishing, until he’s pushed through the door, startling the trio. They all immediately turn towards him. They pause for a minute, before Chan looks up and they all instantly recognise him. Seokmin jogs over and extends a hand to him. Chan accepts it and is surprised by Seokmin’s strength.

“Channie! What are you doing here?” Soonyoung ran over, after downing about a litre of water.

“Channie?” Chan questioned.

“Don’t bother asking him to explain it. He does it to everyone. It makes games really confusing.” Jihoon had turned around to face Chan.

Soonyoung just repeats the question, “What are you doing here?”

Chan sighs, “I got lo-”

“Well, nevermind! Come jam with us!” Soonyoung interrupted, dragging Chan by the wrist.

Chan’s not exactly sure how it happened, but he found himself dancing alongside Soonyoung, while Seokmin’s amazing vocals deafened him in one ear. It’s not that Seokmin was a bad singer; it’s just his voice is insanely loud. Chan didn’t even want to imagine how loud Seokmin would be with a microphone. Chan thinks he’ll make sure to avoid going near the outerfielders, during softball to protect his hearing. Still, Chan was amazed that the loony, softball team actually had talent. Jihoon’s hands were moving so naturally that Chan believed Jihoon could probably play the piano blindfolded. Soonyoung brought so much energy and life to his dance that Chan was in awe and Seokmin’s vocals were no joke. He’s surprised that a company hasn’t swept him up yet.

“Wow! Chan, I didn’t think you would be able to dance!” Soonyoung states after about a minute of dancing.

“Idiot, you’re meant to say ‘Wow! You’re great at dancing!’” Jihoon scolded Soonyoung. “I apologise for Soonyoung, he has a tendency to not think through what he’s going to say.” Chan was amazed at Jihoon’s ability to talk while playing piano. He guessed his Mum lied when she told him that only girls can multitask because Jihoon seems to do it effortlessly.

“Ah! Sorry!” Soonyoung bowed, mid performance.”

“Will you two stop interrupting me while I’m performing?” Seokmin sang.

“Hoonie, can’t we finish for today? I want to have some fun!” Soonyoung whined. “Besides me and Seokmin have to go soon!”

“You just want to chat with Chan.” Jihoon stated, but stopped playing the piano nonetheless. Soonyoung immediately grabbed his phone out of his bag the moment it stopped.

“No, I just wanted to dance to something else for a change.” Soonyoung defended, scrolling through his phone, before shaking his head and diving for Jihoon’s phone. He effortlessly unlocked it and within seconds, Teach me How to Dougie was playing. Seokmin laughed as Jihoon immediately got up.

If you had asked Chan to predict what he would be doing at college, a dance battle would not have been one of the things he would have said, but here he was, in the middle of God knows where, dancing it out against Jihoon, Soonyoung and Seokmin, but mainly Soonyoung and Jihoon. Seokmin was just mainly doing some cute move he probably picked up from a girl group song. Chan was impressed though. Jihoon could play piano and dance, not as well as Soonyoung, probably because he doesn’t practice as often, but still pretty well. Next thing you know, Jihoon would turn around and state that he was an amazing singer, as well. Chan now wondered if the other 2 could do other things. Chan could see that Seokmin, given a routine, would be a decent dancer, but he couldn’t be sure about anything else.

However, after about 3 songs, Soonyoung and Seokmin had to go to their next classes, leaving Chan alone with Jihoon. That made Chan kind of nervous. Chan didn’t have anything against Jihoon, but he wasn’t exactly sure how to start a conversation with Jihoon and Jihoon didn’t exactly seem like the type to be able to socialise with just about anybody. What would he even say to Jihoon? Jihoon hesitated for a moment, before returning to the piano and beginning to play it again. Chan watched awkwardly for a few moments, before realising how odd it seemed for him to be stood watching him and slowly backing away. Jihoon didn’t seem to notice, so he silently slipped out of the room.

Suddenly, Chan feels a hand covering his mouth and an arm wrapped around his body. Unable to scream, Chan is left to helplessly struggle in their grip as he’s dragged away. Chan is eventually dragged into what he guesses is a supply closet, where his kidnapper releases him. He twists around to see none other than Seungcheol stood, staring at him.

“Sorry about that, but I didn’t want to distract Jihoon by talking to you there.” Seungcheol bowed.

“So you decided to kidnap me instead?” Chan questions.

Seungcheol nods, “I wanted to talk to you. I wanted to see how you’re getting on.” He smiled. “No one’s bullying you, right?”

“No, other than that one guy that kidnapped me, I’m doing fine.” Chan couldn’t help rubbing his forehead. He was kidnapped for this?

“Good! I couldn’t have our maknae being bullied!” Seungcheol beamed. “I see you were hanging out with Woozi, DK and Hoshi! They didn’t do anything weird to you did they?” Seungcheol leaned forward, examining Chan.

“No, they just forced me to dance with them.” Chan cleared up.

“That’s a relief! DK and Hoshi can sometimes go a bit crazy and Woozi can just be a tad awkward.” Seungcheol sighed.

“Does Jihoon hate me?”

“What? No! Why would you think that?” Seungcheol leaned forward.

“Because he doesn’t want to touch my hands and earlier, the moment Soonyoung and Seokmin left, Jihoon went back to playing piano.” Chan explained.

Seungcheol laughed. “Don’t worry! Jihoon only touches certain people’s hands. Like to him Mingyu’s hands are disgusting, yet he’s still friends with Mingyu, even if he whines at him a lot. Those two are genuinely great friends. Jihoon’s just extremely awkward and quite, in a way, shy. Like, he doesn’t talk much until you get to know him and even then, there’s times where he’s really quiet and times where he’ll literally talk with you for ages. He’s bad at expressing himself through conversation anyway, but with you at the moment, his brain’s probably malfunctioning, so he tried to relax himself by distracting himself with work. He always does it. Then, he ends up working for days on end and it’s a nightmare trying to get him to properly look after himself.”

Chan blinked a few times processing the information. Seungcheol had a soft expression on his face. It was so very gentle and Chan could see how caring Seungcheol could be.

“I just wish that Jihoon would be more honest with me sometimes because at times, it feels like we’re drifting apart.” Seungcheol’s voice was barely a whisper and Chan could see how much Seungcheol was struggling to keep himself together. Seungcheol really cared about Jihoon and Chan wanted no more than to see the two happy with each other. Chan just hoped that, judging by the way Jihoon caresses Seungcheol’s hands, Jihoon feels the same way. However, Chan knew that, at the moment, he was unable to ask anything else of the two of them. All Chan could do was pat Seungcheol on the shoulder and offer him the biggest smile possible. Seungcheol, weakly, smiled back, before rising. “I should probably go give Woozi his lunch.” As quickly as Seungcheol had came, he left, leaving Chan sat in the supply closet to wonder about where the hell he was.

Eventually, Chan finds his way out of the building and back to his dorm, where he is now getting ready to go out. Seungcheol told him that they were going out for dinner today, but Chan had no clue whether it was a casual meal or a formal meal, so right now, he was trying his best to merge the two so he could fit either occasion. Fortunately, it was succeeding. However, Jeonghan should be picking him up in like 5 minutes and he was still running around in his boxers, thankful his roommate wasn’t there, but at the same time, it’s times like these he wishes his roommate was here to support him and give him direction. He wasn’t though and Chan was running out of time, so he scrambled to throw some clothes on. Ending up with a baby blue shirt and jeans, and proceeding to decide between trainers or dress shoes. In the end, he decided to wait until Jeonghan arrived and check what Jeonghan was wearing before deciding.

He didn’t have to wait too much longer as Jeonghan showed up a couple minutes early and Chan quickly decided upon trainers and sneakily undid one more button on his shirt. He then followed Jeonghan down to the car, who was rambling about how cute Chan was. Chan wanted to argue that the only reason Jeonghan was saying Chan was cute is because he’s the maknae, but then realised this could place him in a position of power over everyone, as Jeonghan seemed keen on claiming him as his own and only Minghao would mess with Jeonghan.

Chan easily spotted Hansol, Seungkwan and Jisoo in the car. Jisoo was in the front, which Minghao would probably say is because Jeonghan has a thing for Jisoo, but Jeonghan would probably argue that it’s because Jisoo is the oldest after Jeonghan. Chan didn’t particularly want to know what Hansol and Seungkwan were doing in the back, but Chan didn’t want to be apart of it. Thankfully, once Chan got in the car, they stopped and began talking to Chan instead.

“Chan!” Seungkwan excitedly begins. “How’s college? The professors aren’t bullying you too much, I hope. I remember when I first joined, one of my professors made all of us do a solo so he could get an idea of our abilities and one of the kids nearly threw up!”

“Ah! I remember the video of that!” Hansol responded. “His face literally went pure white. God, he used to be so shy and innocent.”

“Yup, and now he’s a drug addict, who’s constantly pissed.” Seungkwan continued.

“Seungkwan, don’t swear.” Jisoo stated.

“Especially not in front of the baby.” Jeonghan added.

“I have heard swear words before, you know.” Chan defended.

“Shhhh!” Jeonghan placed a finger on his own lips. “No you haven’t.” Chan just sighed and accepted his fate. Maybe next year some new guy will join and he’ll become the baby.

“Where exactly are we going, anyway?” Chan asked.

“To a place that serves Chinese food.” Seungkwan answered.

“It was The8’s turn to choose.” Hansol added.

“Be careful what you order and don’t take any food that The8 offers you.” Seungkwan warned.

“Why not?” Chan warily asked. He was beginning to expect that when Minghao was involved it had the potential to be dangerous. Minghao could be so nice as well!

“Can we tell him?” Seungkwan glanced at Hansol.

“He has a right to know.” Hansol hesitantly answered.

“A lot of the stuff on the menu is quite hot and spicy and The8 will definitely order something hot and spicy. Jun sometimes does as well, but he doesn’t often share his food.” Seungkwan explained. Chan nodded slowly. Slowly, he was learning about everything and what to avoid.

“To be fair, I doubt anyone could have a better reaction to spicy food than Hoshi though.” Hansol pointed out.

“That was just Hoshi’s natural expression.” Seungkwan pointed out, causing Jeonghan to snort.

“What happened with Soonyoung?” Chan cut in.

“Basically, Hoshi literally started dripping with sweat after one bite of pork.” Seungkwan explained, “And Hoshi doesn’t just end up with a slightly moist forehead, he literally ends up with physical droplets of sweat dripping from his face.”

“It’s so gross.” Hansol added and Chan expected it was.

“Although, Hoshi ends up sweating even from the smallest of things. 5 minutes into practice and he’s usually sweating buckets!” Seungkwan pointed out.

The car slowed to a stop and Jisoo and Jeonghan quickly got out and pulled their chairs forward as apparently Jeonghan couldn’t afford a brand new car, but could afford a second hand one, despite being one of the wealthier members of softball. However, Chan didn’t know that and was blissfully unaware as he got out of the car. They entered the restaurant and were quickly called over by Seungcheol. Everyone else was already there and Chan was quickly sat next to Minghao. Seungkwan occupied the seat next to him and of course, Hansol sat next to Seungkwan. Chan notices that everyone’s kind of sat in couples, with the exception of Minghao and Junhui. Chan would say that meant they were stuck eyefucking, but he noticed that even though everyone was sat next to someone they were interested in, they were all still limiting themselves to eyefucking. Well, Jihoon was occasionally touching Seungcheol’s hands, but that was the maximum. Chan definitely had his work cut out for him.

“What drinks do everyone want?” Seungcheol spoke up, once everyone had settled down.

“Cola!” Soonyoung and Jihoon called out simultaneously. There were a few murmurs and everyone began to agree. Chan was thankful that no one was having alcohol.

“Cola is such a great drink.” Soonyoung began the discussion.

Wonwoo shrugged, “Lemonade’s better, but cola is decent.”

Jihoon slowly lowered his hand onto the table, “Cola is so much better than lemonade.”

“No way! Lemonade beats cola.” Mingyu, an obvious cola lover, but a stronger Wonwoo lover, cut in.

“Lemonade or Wonwoo, Mingyu?” Minghao smiled. Minghao was also a closet cola lover, but he’s pretty argumentative when he wants to be.

“Shut up, Hao.” Mingyu nudged him. 

“No. Not until you admit that you love cola.” Minghao argued.

“Everyone calm down. We can all agree that you cola lovers have no taste. Lemonade is so much better than cola.” Jeonghan stated.

“No taste?” Seungcheol cut in. “Says the one who wanted to decorate our house with his gruesome paintings.”

“You don’t understand the meaning behind those paintings.” Jisoo pointed out. Jisoo liked lemonade and Jeonghan so for him, it was a win-win situation.

“To be fair, those paintings are awesome.” Jihoon agreed. “However, I disagree with the statement that I have no taste.”

“Hoonie, you are an exception to that statement.” Jeonghan smiled. “You just have that bad experience with lemonade that one time.”

“We don’t need to bring that up, Hannie.” Jihoon cut him off.

“I feel like we need to explain the experience to Chan.” Seungkwan pointed out.

“He does not need to know, Seungkwan.” Jihoon glared at Seungkwan.

“Ok! Ok! Don’t get mad at me. Just because you can’t accept lemonade is better than coke because of that one experience.” Seungkwan teased.

“Wait, what are we talking about?” Hansol suddenly came out of a daze, after hearing Seungkwan’s voice.

“Whether cola or lemonade is better. Pay attention, Vernon.” Seungkwan stated.

“What? That’s easy. Lemonade’s obviously better.” Hansol voiced his opinion.

“I think that proves that Cola is better, by the fact you have the guy with the least amount of taste on your side.” Soonyoung crossed his arms.

“Hansol just got blessed with one small bit of taste.” Junhui argued.

“Vernon has no taste!” Seokmin laughed and Chan could have sworn that Soonyoung nearly dribbled. “Cola is the best.”

“Chan, what about you?” Seungkwan turned to Chan is a last attempt at defeating them in numbers.

Chan froze. He liked cola and lemonade, but if he was honest, he preferred orange juice. Fizzy drinks just weren’t his thing. However, he didn’t want to admit to the others that he preferred orange juice as they were already calling him the baby of their group, so he went with the side where he was less likely to die. “I think cola’s better.” Immediately, half the group were cheering and grinning and the other half had looks of betrayal all over their faces’. Fortunately, a waiter came over and took their orders, breaking up the growing tension. Some small conversations were shared as they waited for their meal.

Eventually, the meal arrived and everyone glanced at Minghao with anticipation in their eyes. However, Minghao just sat there waiting for Seungcheol to say his usual speech, which Chan was clueless to.

“Right, guys. Let’s hope for another successful year of softball and college! Also, welcome Chan!” Seungcheol grinned, before digging in and all of a sudden everyone was eating.

“Are you not going to offer Chan anything, Minghao?” Jeonghan risked his life.

“Chan is a good person. Why would I do that?” Minghao responded.

Jihoon quietly hit the table. “Damn it!”

“You sadistic fuck.” Mingyu called Jihoon out. Jihoon just glared at Mingyu, before going back to his rice dish. A strange kind of silence swept over the 13 of them as they all ate and occasionally tasted one another’s food. Mingyu was pressured into tasting Minghao’s food by Minghao himself. Minghao claimed that it didn’t feel right if he tried Mingyu’s food if Mingyu didn’t try Minghao’s. Mingyu ended up a suffering mess, chugging down a couple glasses of milk with ease.

“Hoonie, you need to eat more than that.” Soonyoung stated, when he noticed that Jihoon had stopped eating.

“Jihoon, if you don’t eat more, you’ll be short forever!” Mingyu giggled, until a mysterious force kicked him from under the table.

“Excuse me for not having the massive appetite you guys have.” Jihoon sassed, impressing Seungkwan a little. “Also, if anything, shouldn’t you be more concerned you’re eating too much, Mingyu?” Jihoon continued.

“Someone short would never understand the needs of someone tall!” Mingyu near shouted. Another mysterious force kicked him again.

“I’m not short; I am average. You lot are just too tall.” Jihoon stated as calmly as possible.

The meal continues for a bit, with some small talk until Wonwoo points out that Mingyu dropped a mushroom and Minghao shouted, “AGAIN?!” And everyone started laughing.

In the end, despite only meant to be paying for his own and Jihoon’s meal, Seungcheol winds up paying for multiple people’s meals. He finds himself paying for, Jeonghan’s, Jisoo’s, Seungkwan’s, Hansol’s and Junhui’s meal, as well, yet he still continued to pay for Jihoon’s as well, even when Jihoon offered to pay for his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Team Cola  
> Jihoon  
> Mingyu - But he won't admit it  
> Soonyoung  
> Seokmin  
> Minghao  
> Seungcheol  
>    
> Team Lemonade  
> Hansol  
> Seungkwan  
> Junhui  
> Jeonghan  
> Jisoo  
> Wonwoo  
>    
> Team Orange Juice  
> Chan  
> Me
> 
> Seating Arrangements  
> Seokmin  
> Soonyoung  
> Jihoon  
> Seungcheol  
> Jeonghan  
> Jisoo  
> Hansol  
> Seungkwan  
> Chan  
> Minghao  
> Mingyu  
> Wonwoo  
> Junhui  
>    
> And Junhui would be sat next to Seokmin. Sort of like a circle.


	6. Detective Michael Chanson I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive at Busan and shit hits the fan.

** 16th September 2018 **

Chan was struggling to keep his eyes open, but he wouldn’t admit it. They were currently sat in Seungcheol’s large van at about 1 in the morning, yet everyone is still being insanely noisy. They had been driving for the last two hours and still had about two hours left. They were meant to leave at 10pm, but due to a certain someone, Seungkwan, they ended up leaving an hour later than they were meant to.

“Where the fuck are they?” Seungcheol had been getting annoyed at Soonyoung, Seokmin, Seungkwan and Hansol for being nearly an hour late. Everyone was currently sat in the van, waiting for the quartet to show up.

The 4 of them finally showed up at about 5 to 11pm. Then everyone had been stuffed into the van and off they went, for about 5 minutes.

“I forgot my inhaler.” Hansol perked up from his state of daydreaming.

“WHAT?” Seungcheol yelled, already annoyed.

“Don’t worry. I packed it for him.” Seungkwan cleared up, being the ever dutiful best friend (boyfriend).

Since then, the journey had continued on in an upbeat manner, which included Seungkwan’s constant singing, alongside Seokmin and Soonyoung, with the occasional rap from Hansol. At first, Jihoon had complained, but eventually, Chan was sure, Jihoon was one of the loudest in the car. However, Jihoon’s energy began to drain and he, inevitably fell asleep, leaning against Mingyu. Chan could have sworn he saw Seungcheol hit the brakes in a harsher manner at the next traffic lights. Everyone else, however, was making the most of a defenseless Jihoon, encouraging Mingyu and Wonwoo to draw on Jihoon. Soonyoung was turning round to take awkward photos of the rare sight and everyone else, except Seungcheol, was begging Minghao to tell them some embarrassing Jihoon stories. Minghao refused.

To the chaos of his friends, Chan fell asleep, adjusting his hat as his eyes closed, feeling a strange tranquility...

“Oi. Wake up. We’re here.” Chan was awoken to the harsh prodding of a sharp object, as his eyes slowly opened, he was alerted to the face of Jihoon, who once realising he was awake, moved on. “Fighting!” Jihoon yelled in Soonyoung’s direction and with a jolt, Soonyoung responded with a sleepier ‘fighting’ in response. Chan was bewildered to say the least.

Once everyone was awake and finally out of the van, they all slowly shuffled into the hotel, through the darkness, with their bags dragging behind them. It was an understatement to say that the concierge was shocked when the 13 boys finally squished through the doors. However, she shortly after remembered a Mr Choi making a large reservation a couple weeks ago..

“Hi, I take it you are the party that booked 3 double king sized beds?” The concierge interrupted the groups arguing about who hit who as they went in.

“Yes!” Seungcheol piped up and dashed towards the desk.

“Are you Mr. Choi Seungcheol?” The concierge smiled, looking up at the muscular man.

“Yes, that would be me.”

“Ok. All 3 rooms are ready. Here’s the keys for each room and the spares for each. Also, here’s a pamphlet that will tell you how to work the lights, the aircon, the heating and what to do if anything isn’t working, and here’s a menu to tell you about what we serve at breakfast, lunch and dinner, if you are interested.” She quickly slid all 3 across the desk. “To get to the rooms, go through that door and up either the lift or the stairs to floor one and then you should be able to find it by following the numbers.” She gestured to the door to her left. “I hope you enjoy your stay. If you ever need anything, there is always someone at this desk.”

“Thank you.” Seungcheol smiled, before shooing everyone through the door. Everyone bowed a couple times and wished her a good night, before finally allowing Seungcheol to push them towards the lift, where they had to take it in turns to go up the lift.

Once everyone was on the 1st floor, they went around trying to find rooms 116, 117 and 107. 107 was the closest and Seungcheol decided that Minghao, Mingyu, Wonwoo and Junhui would be a better option to put in that room than Seungkwan, Seokmin, Soonyoung and Hansol. He would rather keep the troublesome foursome where he could easily check on them. The guys in 107 quickly shuffled in and wished the others good night, before shutting the door. From there, the others all made their way around the next couple turns, before finding 116 and 117, which were directly opposite each other. The troublesome foursome quickly dashed into 116, while Chan and the 4 that were left, slowly made their way into 117. The rooms were decently sized and in the bathroom, there was a shower and a bath. The beds were neatly made and Seungcheol was quick to jump on one and claim it was comfy. Meanwhile, Jeonghan made his way into the bathroom with his pjs and a washbag, claiming he was getting ready for bed. Jihoon examined the beds for a minute, before pulling off multiple layers to reveal a white top and black shorts and proceeding to curl up in the corner of the room.

“What are you doing, Hoonie?” Seungcheol looked down at Jihoon.

“It will be uncomfortable if all 3 of us squeeze into one bed.” Jihoon responded, simply.

“We’ll manage though and it’s better than sleeping on the floor.” Seungcheol protested.

“It’s fine, I’m perfectly fine on the floor.” Jihoon stated.

“But?” Seungcheol went to protest again, but the look in Jihoon’s eyes showed he wasn’t changing his mind. “Don’t you need to brush your teeth?”

“I brushed them before we left and I haven’t eaten or drunk anything since we’ve left.” Jihoon curled up tighter and shut his eyes. “Now shut up and let me sleep. It’s like 3am.”

“You’ve stayed up later.” Seungcheol pointed out, but obeyed Jihoon nonetheless.

Everyone was in bed after that, except Seungcheol, who waited until he was sure Jihoon was asleep before lifting him up and moving him to the arm chair. Then, he grabbed a blanket he had found in the room earlier, after noticing Jihoon was slightly shivering and felt cold, and gently laid it over Jihoon’s sleeping body before allowing himself to go to sleep.

Chan was quick to learn about some of the members horrible habits the next day. He was one of the first up and he and Seungkwan had the pleasure of attempting to wake nearly all of the members up. Chan was sure he had been shaking Mingyu with Wonwoo’s half minded help for the last half an hour, yet Mingyu was still no closer to attempting to wake up. Seungkwan on the other hand was left by the other members to try and wake up Hansol. Meanwhile, everyone else is trying to convince Seungcheol to rouse Jihoon, as Seungkwan is busy. Seungcheol, on the other hand, is busy smiling about the fact that Jihoon actually slept. However, about an hour later, everyone is successfully up, even if their mind is still not 100% awake. Jihoon was slightly confused on how he ended up on the chair, but kept quiet about it.

Next, everyone was forced to go for a morning jog, before they were allowed breakfast. This lead to some very angry joggers, mainly Seungkwan & Mingyu. However, Seungcheol payed no attention to the idiots and just kept leading the joggers along the beach. Chan took this as a chance to look at the way the sky met the deep blue and how the waves pushed up against the golden blanket known as the sand. Soonyoung and Seokmin were making small talk and occasionally laughing and Chan could understand why Soonyoung would love Seokmin. Seokmin’s smile was like a second sun and all this time Soonyoung would claim he had been lied to about the solar system having only one star. Minghao was jogging next to Junhui and both occasionally had to drag Mingyu along or double check on Wonwoo, just in case it was too much for him. However, Wonwoo seemed happy and was occasionally cracking a cheesy joke or two, which Soonyoung would turn around to laugh at. Jihoon would mutter that Wonwoo’s sense of humour was awful, but let out a small smile anyway. Jihoon, himself, looked like he was struggling to keep up with the pace the others were maintaining. Jeonghan and Hansol were at the back, pretending to be jogging, which basically consisted of a fast walk until either Minghao or Seungcheol were about to turn around. Seungcheol was smiling and shouting out words of cringeworthy encouragement every few minutes. Jisoo is keeping Seungcheol company at the front and he has this carefree look about him as he stares at the sky. Most of the members would comment that this is the meteorologist in him, but Chan still knew little about all the members. Seungkwan was either singing or moaning about the lack of food and Chan must say, Seungkwan has a beautiful voice.

By the end of the jog, everyone is exhausted and threatening to beat Seungcheol up if they don’t get lunch immediately. However, I doubt many of the members had the energy to beat up anyone by this point, except maybe Soonyoung, who despite currently dripping with sweat seems to still have endless amounts of energy. Chan is reminded of last Friday. Everyone’s over the moon when they finally get to eat breakfast and it ends up going much like every other meal Chan has gone to with them.

Next on the list is beach volleyball and Seungkwan seems to be extremely excited for some reason. The first match was Soonyoung and Jihoon against Jeonghan and Junhui. Jihoon and Soonyoung seemed to work well together, but Jeonghan was continuously whining at Junhui for missing the ball. However, Jeonghan found a way to cheat at some point, by sneakily using the net to lift himself higher when no one was looking. Despite Jeonghan’s cheaty ways, Soonyoung and Jihoon still managed to steal a victory.

In the next match, Chan and Minghao played against Seungcheol and a heated Seungkwan. The game was quite tight, with Seungkwan being way too energetic, but Chan and Minghao just managed to beat them, with Minghao threatening Seungcheol when it came to getting the last point.

The 3rd match was Mingyu and Hansol against Jisoo and Seokmin. Jisoo and Seokmin find it’s quite easy to win against Mingyu and Hansol because Hansol is lazy and Mingyu either hits it off court or trips over.

Finally, Wonwoo gets to play with a recovered Jihoon against Soonyoung and Chan. The game is very close and after both teams have won once, it comes down to the tiebreaker match. Soonyoung and Chan win by one point, due to Wonwoo getting tired out.

Seungcheol allows everyone to have some free time after that before lunch and Chan realises too late that he’s being carried towards the sea by Wonwoo and Mingyu. Before he can escape their grasps, he’s chucked into the water and finds that this beach gets deep pretty quickly. However, Chan’s not the only one that ends up soaked. Seungcheol and Jeonghan are quick to push Mingyu and Wonwoo in afterwards. From there, everyone else slowly seems to get pushed in someway or another, except Jeonghan and Jihoon who managed to sneak away before they were chucked in. Chan finds great fun in splashing the others and getting himself splashed in return.

Lunch goes by just as noisily, with Mingyu dropping yet another mushroom and Minghao moaning about it again. Chan wonders if Mingyu will ever stop ordering meals with mushrooms in.

After lunch, everyone is led to a batter run practice center, so Seungcheol can convince help them get better at batting individually. As there’s only 4 available batting stations, they take it in turns to bat and the others commentate on it. Everyone notices Jihoon’s not hitting it as far as usual, but no one makes a comment. Seungcheol just looks down with a sad look, before going to give Seungkwan some tips. 

By the end of the session, everyone seems to be able to hit the ball slightly further than before, with the exception of Jihoon, but no one dares to say anything. They know it’s unlike him and they know it’ll only make him put on a stronger facade.

Dinner turns into a competition between Soonyoung, Chan, Junhui and Minghao against Seungcheol, Hansol, Wonwoo and Mingyu, and Jihoon, Seungkwan, Seokmin, Jisoo and Jeonghan. Everyone pops into a convenience store, with a certain amount of money, to buy ingredients with, before everyone runs home to claim cooking utensils. The hotel they are staying in had a special kitchen where you could make your own food if you desired to and everyone was quick to take over in there. From there, chaos ensued.

Once all the food was done after about half an hour of competitive arguments between groups and occasionally glancing at what the others were making, everyone began to reveal what they had made. However, everyone was kind of scared of what Soonyoung’s group had made.

“You see, we decided to put a more interesting twist on our meal. We decided to mix in a bit of each of our hometown’s specialty dishes to represent each of us.” Soonyoung rambled.

“No wonder it smells gross! It’s probably got all sorts of things in it!” Seungcheol complained. Needless to say, no one tried Soonyoung’s groups dish. However, everyone was amazed by what Seungcheol’s group had made and Wonwoo exclaimed that it was because they had housewife Mingyu with them. Minghao commented that cooking was Mingyu’s only skill.

While everyone was eating, Seungcheol spoke to Jihoon at the side. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing.” Jihoon responded simply, staring down at his nearly still full bowl.

“It’s obviously not nothing. You’re batting was off today.” Seungcheol commented.

“It’s none of your business. It’s not like we’re roommates anymore.” Jihoon hissed, emphasising the ‘roommate’ part.

“What so I can’t be concerned for a friend?” Seungcheol’s voice rose very slightly.

“Oh! So that’s what we are, is it? I thought you were too busy sticking your head up Jeonghan’s arse to pay attention to anyone else.” Jihoon snarled.

“You know damn well that Jeonghan and I aren’t like that!” Seungcheol quickly responded.

“But you clearly want to be.” Jihoon commented.

“No, I don’t. This isn’t about me, anyway! This is about you! Why have you been acting so aggressive since we stopped rooming?” Seungcheol’s voice was rising.

“Maybe it’s because I’m an aggressive person.” Everyone was watching them by now.

“Are you sure it’s just not because of what happened? I thought we both agreed to move past that.” Seungcheol hinted.

“I thought we agreed to not talk about that.” Jihoon’s voice was nearly a yell by this point.

“Well, I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t always thinking about it when you’re with me.”

“How would you even know that’s what I’m thinking about? We barely talk anymore!”

“It’s so fucking obvious! You always tense up when I touch you and I’m pretty sure the only reason you still touch my hands is so you don’t worry the members because the last thing you would want to do is have to receive help!”

“You know what, I’m done! I’m going to go to the batter run. Don’t wait up for me and don’t even think about carrying me while I’m asleep!” With that, Jihoon stormed out. 

A moment passes before anyone dares to speak. “What are you doing? Follow him, Cheollie!” Jeonghan demands, but Seungcheol just stands there frozen for a few more moments.

Soonyoung’s the first to move. He instinctively opens up his phone and calls Jihoon. A few seconds later, a phone on the table lights up and starts vibrating. The background is of Seungcheol and Jihoon pulling a silly face. It’s quickly identified as Jihoon’s and Soonyoung ends the call.

“Guys, I’m sure he’ll be fine. This is Jihoon we’re talking about. He’s strong enough to defend himself and knowing him, he’s sensible enough to just go back to his room.” Mingyu tries to reassure them. However, everyone knows that’s a lie. Jihoon’s stubborn and he wasn’t 100% earlier during practise. Everyone dashes up the stairs at the speed of light and Seungcheol uses his key to open the door. The room’s empty and so is the bathroom. Everyone quickly retreats downstairs and out the door, before turning left to head down to the batter run center. Jihoon’s not there.

“Where is he? Where’s Jihoon?” Seungcheol is borderline grabbing the employee in charge’s collar.

“Who?” He asks confused.

“A short guy. Currently has blonde hair that’s kind of mushroom shaped with a small gap in his fringe. He was wearing a grey jumper with black writing down the sleeves. It was quite big and gave him sweater paws.” Minghao quickly explained.

“Oh yes! He just left with a group of guys that I actually thought was you lot.” The employee bit his lip. Seungcheol holds his breath.

“Did the group of guys say anything? Like where they were going or their names?” Seungcheol cut in.

“No. They’re not from around here though. I would have recognised them if they lived in this area.” The employee explained. The group just frown and turn away.

“Guys, there’s blood on the floor.” Wonwoo nervously points at the relatively fresh patch of blood.

“Minghao, where is Jihoon?” Seungcheol grabs Minghao by the shoulders.

“I’m a psychologist, not a GPS.” Minghao looked down.


	7. Detective Michael Chanson II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan saves the day. Don't try this at home folks.

**16th September 2018**

“Everyone calm down.” Chan shouted amongst the chaos that was beginning to erupt. Everyone immediately turned to him. “Just think about it for a second. The group of guys that took Jihoon weren’t from here, so we can assume that they aren’t from here and are just visiting like us. That means they probably won’t stray to far from here and will go to a location they have pinpointed. They’ll likely go to an abandoned building and will probably choose the closest to here because it’s easy, so we just need to search for the closest abandoned building here.”

“That would be a abandoned warehouse just down the street.” The employee added.

“How many men were there? Do you know?” Chan asked.

“I think about 7 men.”

“What did they look like? Tall? Short? Muscular?”

“Most were average height and build. There was one who was tall. He was about his height.” The employee gestured at Mingyu. “Quite muscular as well.”

“Ok, anything else? Any similar markings on any of them? Like tattoos?”

“There was this snake tattoo I spotted on a couple of them with an arrow or something going through it.”

“Bingo. Thank you!” Chan smiled. “Come on, we’re going. We need to plan our attack.”

“And I thought Minghao was a threat.” Mingyu whispered as they walked outside.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in the hotel lounge which was practically deserted. All eyes were on Chan.

“So Jihoon was probably taken by a gang known as Sly Arrow. This gang is famous for going into towns finding weak victims who are either alone or in a pair and tying them up. Then, uh… sexually assaulting them.” Chan paused for a minute and bit his lip. “They usually take their victims to nearby warehouses that are no longer in use and record the assault. They sell the videos online for a lot of money and they usually proceed to kidnap the victim for a while, before removing their tongue. The victim’s usually used as an unwilling prostitute for a period of time.”

“We need to go now then!” Jeonghan cut in.

“No, we don’t. They usually knock their victims out and claim to take them to the hospital. They wait until the victim is awake before assaulting them and judging by the blood that was in the building, Jihoon won’t be waking up for a while. That gives us time to equip ourselves and plan our attack. So, anyway, we can use the softball bats as weapons. They’re heavy enough and we all have quite a lot of experience in using them. Target them in the stomachs; we don’t want to injure them too severely. Now, the good thing about Sly Arrow is their gang is relatively small. They only have 6 members and they’re all of average build with the exception of one. Their leader is well built. The height of Mingyu and the build of Seungcheol. Mingyu, Seungcheol and Minghao will be in charge of dealing with him. Seungkwan and Hansol will team up and defeat one. Wonwoo and Soonyoung will defeat another. Jisoo and Jeonghan together. Seokmin and Junhui will work alone. I will try and sneak in and untie Jihoon and get him out of the building.”

“Why don’t we just call the police?” Jisoo interjected. 

“It will take too long for them to get here.” Minghao dismissed. “Won’t we need rope?”

“I can provide that.” Junhui added.

“You worry me.” Wonwoo sighed.

“Let’s go then!” Chan grinned.

After about half an hour, the group stood in front of the supposed warehouse. They could hear noise from inside, which was a good sign. Seungcheol, Minghao and Mingyu led the way inside, followed by Seokmin and Junhui, then, Jisoo and Jeonghan. Seungkwan and Hansol hesitated for a moment before following. Chan waited for a minute before heading for the back door, keeping his phone in hand.

Inside, the group were quick to stumble upon two members guarding a doorway. Seokmin and Junhui snuck their way over to them and quickly made work tying them up, barely given the two guys and chance to notice what was happening. The other members moved on into the room and found 3 gang members stood in the middle of room, talking. They also spotted a tied up, unconscious Jihoon at the side. One of the 3 was the leader. It wasn’t hard to tell, he towered above the other two and was definitely more muscular. They charged in and quickly began attacking the guy. It was hard. Hearing the noise, the last member came in and Seungkwan and Hansol quickly took care of him. While the members were holding the gang down, Chan snuck in and untied Jihoon and carried him out. Then, the other members slowly stepped away and began to leave. That was their mistake.

Thud.

Minghao was down and the leader was standing again. Mingyu and Seungcheol quickly ran back and held the leader down again, but the other gang members were also beginning to get back up.

Just when Sly Arrow was getting the upperhand, the police came storming in and quickly began to detain everyone. The softball team moved to the side to avoid getting caught up in the fuss.

“You boys are reckless! Do you know how much danger you could have put yourselves in?” One of the policeman berated them. “You’re lucky none of you were killed or badly injured!”

“We know. It’s just our friend was in danger and we couldn’t wait around.” Seungcheol apologised.

“What would you have done if you were outnumbered or they held the boy hostage?”

“We wouldn’t have been outnumbered. One of our friends knew a lot about the gang. He knew the amount of members they had and their builds and stuff. He knew how they worked.” Seungkwan explained.

“Well, you’re very lucky! Us police officers have been hunting this group down for years, so for that, we are thankful for your help.”

“How did you know to come here anyway?” Wonwoo raised an eyebrow.

“We received a phone call from a man who works at the batter run a while ago, so we came to investigate.”

“Can we go check on our friend?” Mingyu weakly asked.

“The injured boy? He’s on his way to hospital now with another boy, Mr Lee Chan, I believe?” The group nodded in response. “I would other to take you all down there, but there is quite a lot of you.”

“It’s ok. We can walk.” Seungcheol explained.

“Ok. Before you leave, I will need your phone numbers and addresses so that if needed, we can contact you and get a statement from you.”

“Of course.” Seungcheol agreed. Everyone was quick to swipe out their phones and after a few minutes of passing on their contact details, everyone quickly began to make their way to the hospital.

Only after making sure that Jihoon and Minghao were ok did everyone make their way home with sluggish movements. Jihoon was fine, he just had a few mild cuts on the back of his head and a concussion, but the doctors were convinced that in a few hours he would regain consciousness and after that, all he needed was a bit of rest. Minghao was also fine, he just had a bit of a bruised forehead.

And that, was how Chan’s first college incident went down. Fortunately, future incidents shouldn’t be too bad, right?

“Chan, you were incredible back then!” Hansol commented. “You were like a detective in one of them old movies.”

Chan smiled. “I was originally going to study law and enforcement, but history just called to me.”

“How did I not know that?” Minghao stopped in his tracks.

“Chan just might be scarier than Minghao.” Seungkwan gasped.

“Maybe you’re more of a threat than I thought.” Minghao’s eyebrow twitched.

“Don’t get scared, Hao.” Junhui grinned.

“Never.” Minghao deadpanned.

“I’m not that much of a threat.” Chan weakly shrugged, trying to quickly escape being Minghao’s enemy or rival.

Meanwhile, Jihoon was dreaming peacefully about past occurrences and becoming aware of the feelings hidden deep within...


	8. A Brief Detour into the Thoughts of the Unconscious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We briefly detour into the mind of the unconscious man, Jihoon.

_The scene was familiar. I was walking down a corridor. I had been here before; the north wing corridor of middle school where the 3rd year classes were. I remember the first time I stumbled upon this corridor. I was lost and that's where I found him, my oldest friend Seungcheol. There he was, just like the first time we had met, stood leaning against the wall just outside a classroom. He had his head hung low. His hair was still black at this point and was pushed back with a snap back._

_“What are you doing here, runt?” Seungcheol bit. I didn't pay attention to it like I did back then. He was trying to fit in at that point and was often misunderstood for his strong build._

_“I’m lost.” Back then, my voice trembled when the words left my mouth, but now they just feel natural._

_“What?” Seungcheol mocked. “Do you not have a map?” I shook my head, trying to withhold a grin to avoid altering the memory. ”Urghhh. What class are you in?”_

_“1A.”_

_“Nerd.” I cover my mouth suppressing a laugh and follow him as he moves off. I don't need to follow him because I know the way now, but I just like the idea of watching his back. It doesn't happen much anymore. We walk together now so I don't often get the opportunity to look at him properly._

_He turns around a corner and I follow him, but he's not there and the school exit lies in view. Anything can happen here I guess. I exit the school and find myself quickly cornered by a group of people in my year. Right. I forgot about these lot. However, if I remember correctly, this is the day he shows up._

_“Oi!” Right on time. Seungcheol comes running around the corner and quickly cuts in between me and the other boys. “What the fuck is happening?”_

_“None of your business, retard!” One of the boys call out._

_“Why did you come?” I whisper following the script. It's a question that still bugs me to this day. Why would he have helped me, a complete stranger?_

_“Because you probably didn’t deserve it, right?” Seungcheol flashed me a signature smile, before turning and beating the 5 boys up in an instant. A teacher saw and within a week, Seungcheol was expelled. Apparently, he had been in multiple issues before that. I never asked what they were._

_The scene changes again and Seungcheol is waving at me from the gate. He is wearing his high school uniform so I take a guess that I am now a second year. Approaching the gate, I spot Soonyoung also running to join me. The three of us had become the trio of dorks and would often meet up and get ice cream after school. Well, Soonyoung and Seungcheol would get ice cream. I watched the two of them. My family situation wasn’t great or at least, Seungcheol constantly told me it wasn’t._

_I reach the gate, but when I do, my house is on the other side of the road. My mother’s stood in front of it. She beckons to me with her usual angry face. I walk towards her. I wonder when the last time I spoke to her was._

_“You were with that boy again.” She bites. She never seemed to like Seungcheol. I never understood why. “You know I don’t approve of him, right?”_

_“Yes.” It’s easier than lying to her._

_“Why would you disobey me?” She kept her voice quiet like usual._

_“I’m sorry.” Even now those are the only words I can respond with._

_“Answer my question. Why?”_

_“I don’t know. I’m sorry.” I wish I could think of something more; tell her how incredible Seungcheol is, but the words don’t come._

_“That’s not an answer. Go to your room. You can spend your time revising.” She points to the door. I enter._

_There are many moments I regret in my life. The moment I enter the house, I find myself in the dining room. Mother and Father are sat at the dining room tables. Mother is crying. My father just shakes his head for a few minutes before turning to me in disgust._

_“I refuse to have a gay for a son. Leave now.” He bit. I just nodded trembling. I only packed a few belongings that night. I took nothing but a phone, a wallet and a couple outfits. I went to walk to Seungcheol’s._

_When I opened the door, I found myself entering my old apartment; the one I shared with Seungcheol. He’s stood next to Soonyoung, Wonwoo, Junhui, Jeonghan and Jisoo. They crack out some party poppers. My first Birthday party. It hurts to remember. I had never experienced such happiness in my life, yet I threw it all away. I abandoned the memories over such a weak argument._

_“What is this?” I look down at my hands. They’re holding the documents about the apartment._

_“Jihoon, stay calm. I can explain.” Seungcheol took a hesitant step towards me._

_“You’ve been lying to me all this time…” I whisper. “I thought…” I can’t breathe. “Why would…”_

_“No! I just knew you wouldn’t agree.” Seungcheol had his hands out in front of himself as if to catch my anger._

_“I thought that I wasn’t being a burden for once.” The words burn._

_“You’re not! I’m fine with it as long as you’re happy!”_

_“I thought for once I was being helpful. I thought that we were equal.”_

_“We are-”_

_“Why?” I choke on the tears. “Why are you always so far ahead of me? Why can I never reach?”_

_“It’s not-”_

_“Don’t lie to me!” I shout. “How much?”_

_“What?”_

_“How much should I be paying really?”_

_“It’s not important.”_

_“Answer the question.”_

_“$1000.”_

_“No. I can’t.”_

_“Jihoon breathe.”_

_“I’m leaving.”_

_“Jihoon…”_

_“I’m moving out.”_

_“Don’t…”_

_“I won’t burden you!”_

_“You’re not…”_

_“Let’s just find separate accommodations.”_

_“But I-”_

_“Jeonghan and Jisoo have been looking for another roommate. Just say the landlord kicked us out.” I turn and pull out my phone, already starting my search._

_“But what about you?”_

_“I’ll be fine. It’s about time I stopped leeching off of you.”_

_“Jihoon…”_

_“Don’t baby me anymore!”_  

_“I don’t… It’s not like that.” I was already walking away from him though._

_Next thing I know I found myself standing in front of my new apartment. It’s tiny and barely functions, but it’s enough. The door barely functions, but it’s fine. The fridge turns off every now and again, but it’s fine. The oven door is broken, but it’s fine. The windows are cardboard, but it’s fine. Everything’s fine and I’m not relying on Seungcheol._

_“What’s up with you?” It cuts into my thoughts. The image won’t leave._

_“Nothing.” I respond simply, staring down at my nearly full bowl._

_“It’s obviously not nothing. You’re batting was off today.” Seungcheol comments._

_“It’s none of your business. It’s not like we’re roommates anymore.” I hiss, emphasising the ‘roommate’ part._

_“What so I can’t be concerned for a friend?” Seungcheol’s voice raises very slightly._

_“Oh! So that’s what we are, is it? I thought you were too busy sticking your head up Jeonghan’s arse to pay attention to anyone else.” I snarl. It’s cheap, but I was too slow to think of an award winning argument._

_“You know damn well that Jeonghan and I aren’t like that!” Seungcheol quickly responds._

_“But you clearly want to be.” I comment._

_“No, I don’t. This isn’t about me, anyway! This is about you! Why have you been acting so aggressive since we stopped rooming?” Seungcheol’s voice is still rising._

_“Maybe it’s because I’m an aggressive person.” Everyone was watching us by now. It made me nervous._

_“Are you sure it’s just not because of what happened? I thought we both agreed to move past that.” Seungcheol hints._

_“I thought we agreed to not talk about that.” My voice is nearly a yell by this point._

_“Well, I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t always thinking about it when you’re with me.”_

_“How would you even know that’s what I’m thinking about? We barely talk anymore!”_

_“It’s so fucking obvious! You always tense up when I touch you and I’m pretty sure the only reason you still touch my hands is so you don’t worry the members because the last thing you would want to do is have to receive help!”_

_“You know what, I’m done! I’m going to go to the batter run. Don’t wait up for me and don’t even think about carrying me while I’m asleep!” With that, I storm out._

_The thoughts are swarming. My mother is sending me to bed without dinner yet again. My father is secretly beating me. Seungcheol is giving me concerned looks over and over again. Soonyoung’s frowning again and again and again. The bullies are chanting slurs again and again. My father kicks me out over and over. It’s like a broken tape recorder. I’m tired of being pitiful. I want to be depended on once. I want to be the one helping another._

_“Look at this shrimp.” I can see the 6 men out of the corner of my eye. I ignore them._

_“Hey little man, you looking for some fun?” The tallest one approaches me. He’s intimidating, but I ignore it. I’m strong._

_“Come on, let’s go play!” Another touches my sleeve. I hit a ball. One approaches all too quickly and before I know it, I’m being hit across the head and I feel numb._

_I’m drowning. It’s not a bad feeling, but I feel like I shouldn’t be here. I need to move. I need to get out, but I can’t. It’s too comforting; too much effort. I want to be enveloped by the darkness. I don’t want to suffer anymore. I just want to end it all._

_“Jihoon! What are you doing?” Seungcheol charges into the bathroom. I’m sat on the toilet seat, holding a bottle of pills and a knife. I’m dancing on the edge. One wrong step and I will plummet into the darkness and disappear. He comes over to me and removes the knife from my hand, then the pills. He engulfs me in his arms and all at once, reality dawns on me. I break down in his arms._

_Such dark memories…_

_Such bitter thoughts…_

_Seungcheol embraced them all like they were nothing. Why does he go so far for me? Why do I feel so calm in his arms? These unanswered questions linger and all I know is that I will never be able to leave him._

“He’s waking up!” His voice is annoyingly loud, but the desperation screams louder. I allow my eyes to steadily open and the rays of light pierce the darkness. Never has the light been so reassuring. It’s like being doused in warm water.

Mother, I’m sorry for not answering you back then, but I just couldn’t find the words because there are none that can describe how incredible Seungcheol is. He’s always there when I need him. He always tries his hardest and I think I might love him, so I’m sorry that I can’t tell you every little thing that amazes me about him and every tiny detail that I love, but it’s your own fault for not taking the time to get to know him.

I smile and for once, it’s not fake and it’s not at the suffering of another. If anyone asked later, I would say it’s the concussion, but for now, I embraced the light which is Seungcheol.


	9. Xu Minghao vs Lee Chan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bet is made. Minghao stresses and Mingyu is a good friend. Finally, Jihoon and Seungcheol get their shit together.

**17th September 2018**

“You ok?” Junhui slammed his but onto the sofa, looking over to Wonwoo. He’d been sat there the last 5 minutes staring at the same page of his favourite book.

“I’m fine.”

“Sorry, let me rephrase that; what’s on Mr Comedic Genius’s mind?” Junhui took a sip of his recently brewed coffee, embracing the fact that Mingyu and Minghao weren’t in the room at this moment.

Wonwoo glanced at Junhui, “You’re going to keep pestering me until I tell you, right?” He fiddled with the sleeves of his beige jumper, burying his hands under the warm fabric.

“You’ve got that right.” Junhui smirked.

“It’s dumb though.” Wonwoo shook his head.

“It can’t be as bad as what leaves Mingyu’s mouth.” Junhui shrugged in response.

“True.” Wonwoo paused. “It’s just, ever since Chan arrived I have a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen and, I mean, Jihoon was injured yesterday.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust Chan?” Junhui leaned forwards slightly.

“No! No! I trust him! I just feel like his arrival has set events into motion that wouldn’t have taken place if he hadn’t appeared. I don’t think he caused them! I just think his arrival was like a bad omen or something like that. It’s not his fault.” Wonwoo scratched his head slightly. “Am I making sense?”

“Yes. Yes. I understand where you’re coming from. It feels like he’s set stuff off and from now on chaos will erupt.” Junhui exaggerated. “You’re overthinking it, Wonu. Nothing is happening. What happened last night was just an accident.”

“Maybe I am, but I don’t know. Everything just feels weird.” Wonwoo shrugged, leaning back on the sofa.

“What’s weird?” Minghao breathed into Wonwoo’s neck.

“Nothing!” Wonwoo instinctively answered, sitting up dead straight. “How’d you get in anyway?”

“I have my methods.” Minghao grinned. “It doesn’t sound like nothing to me though. Spill.”

Junhui sighed. “He’s worried about Chan. He feels like his arrival has caused shit to happen.”

“I see what you mean. Chan is an odd character. I thought that he was boring at first, but he’s slowly intriguing me more and more.” Minghao frowned slightly. “I can’t believe I missed the fact he was planning on taking Law and Enforcement.”

“You’re not expected to know everything, Hao.” Mingyu rubbed Minghao’s shoulders, having waited until after Minghao had scared Wonwoo to approach.

Minghao scoffed. “You saw how Seungcheol reacted when Jihoon went missing. He instantly expected me to have all the answers, but I was useless.”

“He was stressed out. He cares deeply about Hoonie.” Mingyu pouted.

“Still, I should have known.” Minghao muttered, bringing his knees up a little.

“No! Why would you have known that?” Mingyu argued.

“Chan did. Chan had all the answers while I just stood and watched.” Minghao sulked.

“Chan happened to have studied that! That sort of field was his area of expertise! Your area of expertise lies in helping us understand our thoughts and feelings! You understand how my mind works better than I do! You know when I’m nervous! You know when I’m scared! You know what to do when Wonu is down and what to do when Jun’s missing home! You know that when I fail an assignment that I like cuddles and to lie down on the sofa eating junk food with a small group of company. You know when to leave Wonu alone. You know that I need attention frequently. You know when compliment Jun’s appearance so that it doesn’t inflate his ego. You’re perfect at what you do. You don’t need to do anything else, ok?” Mingyu panted, slightly. “Ah! Sorry! Please don’t kill me!” He carefully glanced at Minghao’s face.

Suddenly, Minghao twisted around and clung to Mingyu tightly. “Thank you, Gyu. You’re not too bad at cheering people up yourself.” Minghao smiled gently.

“Ew gross. Feelings.” Wonwoo faked disgust.

“Just because no one reacts to your jokes.” Junhui nudged him. “Anyway, should we bet on it?”

“Bet on what?” Mingyu blinked innocently.

“Chan.” Minghao stated as if that explained everything.

“Well, I’m betting that Chan presence is setting events into motion.” Wonwoo claimed.

“I’ll bet that it’s Jihoon’s fault.” Junhui smiled.

“Jihoon’s?” Wonwoo questioned.

“Well, I mean he’s been tense for the whole term.” Junhui shrugged.

“Interesting.” Minghao grinned, forgetting the tension from earlier. “I’ll bet that Chan has caused these events and there is more to him than we realise.”

“Mingyu?” Junhui turned to the tall beansprout.

“Me?” Mingyu blinked, pointing at himself.

“No Wongyu.” Junhui scoffed. “Are you joining the bet or what?”

“Oh!” Mingyu paused for a minute. “I’ll bet that no matter what everything will end happily and Chan is innocent.”

“Too pure.” Junhui muttered.

“What are the stakes then?” Wonwoo cut in.

“Money?” Junhui offered.

“Too simple.” Minghao waved away the concept.

“Food?” Mingyu tilted his head.

“No.” The other three collectively groaned.

Minghao smirked. “What about the other three have to be the winner’s slaves for a week?”

“Why?” Everyone else whined, but found themselves eventually agreeing.

“Well, I need to do some research.” Minghao rose and went towards the elevator.

* * *

Jihoon was content. He’d been allowed to return to the hotel on strict orders of plenty of rest and no exercise for 3 days. Seungcheol had never left his side. Currently, they were both lazing about in their room. Jeonghan, Jisoo and Chan were out somewhere. Jihoon was laying on the bed and Seungcheol was sat on a chair next to him, one hand playing with Jihoon’s hand and the other was running through Jihoon’s hair. It was comforting and calming. Jihoon could stay like this forever, not doing much and just enjoying the gentle breathing of the other and his gentle smile. Things don’t always go his way though. He needs to talk to Seungcheol and he knew if he didn’t do it now, he would never get another opportunity.

"We need to talk." Jihoon finally caved.

"Finally ready then?" Seungcheol grinned, gently stroking Jihoon's hand.

"Don't test me or I'll go get kidnapped again." Jihoon joked, but it was lighthearted and for once lacked malice or defensiveness.

"Hey, Hoonie." Seungcheol's smile softened and twisted into a more bittersweet kind. "Just remember that I'm always here for you."

"I know. I know." Jihoon waved him off.

"No, Jihoon. I mean it. I want you to understand that." Seungcheol gently squeezed Jihoon's hand.

Jihoon gaze strengthened. "I know."

"Good."

The silence relapsed for a few minutes and Seungcheol nearly thought that Jihoon had changed his mind when his gentle voice rang out. “Do you remember when we first met?” Jihoon started.

“Of course, little Jihoonie had gotten lost on his first day.” Seungcheol chuckled.

“You helped me even though I was a stranger.” Jihoon nodded.

“Well, yeah. I wasn’t a dick.” Seungcheol laughed.

“Could have fooled me!” Jihoon laughed back. They continued for a minute before the laughter died down. “Why?”

“Huh?” Seungcheol tilted his head.

“Why did you help me? Why do you always help me?” Jihoon’s voice was silent, but carried in their quiet surroundings.

“Because you looked lonely. You still do. Even though you’re surrounded by people, you still look like you’re alone. It’s as if you’re holding yourself back. I just wanted to take up a little bit of your heart and provide you with some warmth.” Seungcheol shrugged, looking down at their entwined hands.

“Greasy bastard.” Jihoon laughed. “But if it’s my heart, someone already owns it.”

Seungcheol frowned slightly. “That guy is a lucky bum.” He stated, laughing lightly.

“Idiot.” Jihoon muttered. “I need to tell you something.”

“Me too.” Seungcheol looked deep into Jihoon’s eyes.

“You can go first.” Jihoon avoided the eye contact.

Seungcheol nearly told Jihoon to go first, but stopped himself, knowing Jihoon probably wanted to build up some kind of confidence. “Do you remember that time I told you I confessed to Jeonghan?”

“Of course, you sulked for a week and then decided to tell me.” Jihoon grinned at the memory.

“Everyone else told me to tell you carefully. It was something like they thought it would upset you.” Seungcheol’s gentle smile made a return trip.

“Right and afterwards I went to the bathroom and everyone thought I was upset. Mingyu even came in after me.” Jihoon laughed.

“Yeah and then it turned out your wisdom teeth were just causing you a lot of pain!” Seungcheol cackled.

“Yah! It’s not funny! I had to have them removed!” Jihoon tried to be angry, but it just came out as more laughter.

“Well, do you know what Jeonghan said to me when he rejected me?” Seungcheol asked, calming his laughter.

“That he’s hella gay for Josh?” Jihoon joked.

“Nope, but that would have been true.” Seungcheol beamed. “He said to me that he didn’t think we were right for each other and that he knew I was just forcing feelings out where there were none.” He looked down at Jihoon’s hand. “I didn’t understand it at the time, but I think I’m beginning to understand it now. What I had for Jeonghan was just a fleeting crush and a strong admiration. He made me nervous and remember how I was constantly stuttering around him and blushing at first! God that was the worst! But, eventually those feelings died and I realised that Jeonghan was no more special that any of the other guys.” He sighed. “I’ve been blind for so long Jihoon. I thought love was all blushy blushy and awkward hand movements, but it’s like coming home after a long day. It’s like gentle tides enveloping the beach and it just feels right. It’s so calming and I realised that when I noticed that I was always treating you slightly differently to the others. I wanted to rest in your embrace for longer and I longed for my hand to slot into your’s whenever we separated.” Seungcheol didn’t stop. “I love you, Hoonie. Always have and always will.”

Jihoon giggled lightly. “Guess I don’t need to say my speech now.” Seungcheol looked up, awaiting a larger sign. “You know, right?” Jihoon prompted, not sure if his voice will allow him to say the words right now. It was like every single happy moment in his life had happened at once, but even better.

Seungcheol moved forwards and allowed his forehead to rest against Jihoon’s. “Yeah, I know.” They stayed like that for a while, just feeling the other’s breath against their own. “Do we tell the others?” Seungcheol whispered.

“We’ll let them figure it out.” Jihoon mumbled back.

Eventually, the two found themselves curled up against each other in the bed. Seungcheol had his arms wrapped around Jihoon’s stomach and Jihoon had his back pressed against Seungcheol’s stomach, his hands occasionally fiddling with Seungcheol’s in his sleep. Both of them were at peace.

* * *

 

Meanwhile, Mingyu and Minghao were sat upstairs in their room, waiting for Junhui and Wonwoo to return from grabbing some snacks. Minghao was intensely scanning through files on his laptop and Mingyu was sat playing a game on his phone. Eventually, Mingyu decided to break the silence.

"What's going on, Minghao?" Mingyu carefully sat at the edge of the sofa.

Minghao's gaze had barely moved from his laptop as he scanned for anything that might give him an advantage. "You don't need to worry about it, Gyu."

"But everyone else seems worried?" Mingyu tilted his head.

Minghao could have laughed at the boy at his side. "I'm just at a loss."

"Is this about Chan?" Mingyu gently approached the topic. "Because I don't think he's a bad kid."

"No, he's a good kid. Just there's something wrong with him."

"Wrong? In what way?"

"I don't know yet. I barely know the kid..." Minghao bit his lip. "It scares me to be left in the dark. I don't want to get left behind."

"Don't worry. I'll always be here for you and I'm sure the others will too."

If Minghao's heart didn't already belong to another, he might have fallen, but he knows that Mingyu and him will never like each other in that way. Minghao’s heart always belongs to another.

“Believe me, I know.” Minghao smiled. “But for now, we are at war Gyu so don’t interrupt me!” Mingyu couldn’t help but laugh at his best friends foolish behaviour.

“Do you want to create our own little stakes?” Mingyu suggested.

“What kind, Gyu?” Minghao glanced at the boy.

“Just if I win, then you have to confess to Jun and if you win, then I have to confess to Wonwoo.” Mingyu stated.

Minghao laughed. “That sounds good, but you know the circumstances surrounding Jun and me don’t allow for that.”

“Ok. Sorry, let’s not bother then. I just thought it might be nice for you to finally have a reason to express your feelings.” Mingyu frowned.

“I know and trust me, one day I will let Jun know everything I feel for him, but for now, they must stay hidden to protect both of us.” Minghao sighed and finally closed his laptop. “Now, shall we play a game?”


	10. The Distance Between New and Old is Unbreachable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan realises that things are never going to work out, but he doesn't want things to end just yet.

**21st September 2018**

“They’re totally dating.” Seungkwan stated from his sprawled out position on the bed.

“Who’s dating?” Hansol tilted his head in confusion, suddenly rejoining the conversation.

“Yah! Pay attention! We’re talking about ‘Hoon and ‘Cheol” Seungkwan berated Hansol.

Chan wasn’t entirely sure how he ended up in this position. All he remembered is that he had been on his way to his dorm after a particularly stressful history lecture, when he had suddenly been forced to take a detour and found himself in an unfamiliar dorm with the ‘idiot trio’ and Hansol.

“Woozi and S.Coups are dating?” Hansol’s jaw dropped.

“Have you not noticed how touchy they’ve been recently?” Chan commented from the side. 

“Woah! Hold up! The day Hansol notices something is the day Jihoon gets over his hand fetish.” Soonyoung cuts in. 

“What’s that meant to mean?” Hansol questions, but he seems way to calm for someone who has just been insulted.

“Hansol, if it wasn’t for me, you would have been hit by a car by now.” Seungkwan stated.

“Lies.” Hansol halfheartedly argued.

“I have known you since you were still wearing nappies. I think I know how unfocused and distracted you are by this point.” Seungkwan retorted. 

“Savage!” Seokmin yelled.

“Why am I here?” Chan sighed.

“Why you ask, my young son?” Soonyoung leaned forward, as though he was conspiring. “Because we wanted to be good elders to our fresh meat.”

“Run while you still can.” Hansol whispered to Chan. Chan would have obeyed his command had he had an opening, but with the three others in the room, he had no chance.

“How could you say such a thing, Hansol?” Soonyoung gasped, dramatically placing a hand on his chest.

“It seems we have failed to educate one of our other sons! This calls for punishment!” Seokmin joined in.

“Guys, stop. I know you all hella gay, but please, keep it to a minimum.” Seungkwan sighed, turning to Chan. “I apologise for their homosexual arses.”

“Hah!” Soonyoung pointed at Seungkwan. “As if you aren’t lusting after Hansol’s booty!”

“You say that as though Hansol has a booty.” Seungkwan added. “Also, I don’t see you denying your love for Seokmin.”

“Oh please! Seokmin and I are just the greatest of brosephs!” Soonyoung announced. “Isn’t that right, Seok?”

“Haha, yeah!” Chan did not miss the way Seokmin’s sunshine smile faltered for an instant as if an eclipse had just occurred. He hoped that Soonyoung would realise his feelings for the literal ball of sunshine before Seokmin suffered a full eclipse.

“Wait what?” Hansol shook his head, suddenly rejoining the conversation. Chan was beginning to realise this happened a lot.

“Nevermind.” Seokmin smiled.

“Seungkwan was just saying you got a small arse.” Soonyoung explained.

“Just because he got a big one doesn’t mean he can insult others.” Hansol frowned.

“Oooh.” Seokmin interjected, fully recovering from Soonyoung’s earlier comment.

Seungkwan grinned. “Just because you jealous of this booty doesn’t mean you can get salty about it.”

“Oooh.” Seokmin repeated, turning back to Hansol.

“Stop that.” Seungkwan nudged Seokmin with his foot.

It hurt Chan a little to realise that as much as he would like to, he could never belong with these people. It’s a privilege he lost when he made that decision a few years ago. It created a small bubble of jealousy that left an acidic burn on his throat as it struggled it’s way up his throat, but he couldn’t let it out. He couldn’t burden these people. This was his secret to live with and he would not bring them down in however much time he has left.

* * *

Chan was a lot quieter at training that night. He was normally quiet, but that night, he seemed to reach another extreme. The other’s tried to cheer him up, but they had yet to cross the bridge that separated them from the true Chan and in small ways, a part of them did not want to know. They were scared that if they pried too much, they would find out the truth and something about learning that left a pit of anxiety to dig at their insides.

All of them knew something was different about Chan and none of them wanted to change the dynamic they currently had going on.

However, change had already begun, and Jihoon and Seungcheol were just the beginning.


	11. Ghostboi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chan goes to a party and ends up with a pillow filled with regrets.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seungcheol - Gramps  
> Jeonghan - Angle <3 (Not a typo.)  
> Jisoo - Holyone  
> Junhui - Flawless  
> Soonyoung - Sasuke  
> Wonwoo - Emo666  
> Jihoon - Woozi  
> Mingyu - Sneeze  
> Seokmin - Naruto  
> Minghao - Cutie  
> Seungkwan - Diva  
> Hansol - Memesol  
> Chan - Ghostboi

**4th October 2018**

“Cheollie! You need to cancel practice tonight!” Jeonghan whined, pouting to try and look even cuter. Chan was a little bit scared to look. Jeonghan’s manipulation skills are not to be frowned upon.

“No. You can’t have a party anyway. Most of us have college tomorrow.” Seungcheol defended, seemingly immune to his close friends cute act.

“It’s only going to be a small gathering! Just the softball lot.” Jeonghan pushed.

“We both know that the softball lot do not equal a small gathering. Us lot drunk are the equivalent to a frat party.” Seungcheol tried to argue.

“But it’s my Birthday, Cheollie! Hoonie, help me here!” Jeonghan called over to the small man clearing a table nearby.

“Will there be free alcohol?” Jihoon questioned.

“Of course, Hoonie!” Jeonghan grinned.

“Cheol, it’s a good idea.” Jihoon gave a thumbs up to Seungcheol to emphasize his point. “Besides the boys could use a little relaxation before our first practice match on Saturday.” He added.

“See Cheollie, even Hoonie agrees! Come on, it’ll be fun!” Jeonghan rested an arm on Jihoon’s shoulder.

Seungcheol considered for a few minutes. “What do you think, Jisoo? Chan?”

“As long as Jeonghan cleans up afterwards, I don’t mind.” Jisoo commented.

“Chan?” Everyone instantly snapped their necks to Chan.

“I think it would be fun, but do you think everyone will be able to make it at such short notice?” Chan tilted his head.

“Free alcohol?” Hansol peered in, receiving several nods of approval. “They’ll make it.” He walks away again, occasionally stumbling.

“Trust me my little uneducated baby. These boys are like animals when it comes to sniffing out free alcohol.” Jeonghan added. “Well, except Jisoo. He just gets motherly urges to protect the younger ones and anyone that is not legal, basically you, Channie.” He went on to explain. “Anyway, I’m going to alert the group chat. Wait! Is Channie in the group chat?”

“No. No. No!” Jisoo exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to protect Chan’s innocence!”

Jeonghan snorted. “The kid’s 19. He probably lost his innocence 2 years ago. Besides, he’s met Hoonie. All innocence has gone out the window by this point. He must be added to the group chat.” Chan would soon learn that group chats are never a good thing and that the boys are relatively tame in real life when compared to what goes down in the group chat…

**angle and his bitches**

_angle <3 added ‘Lee Chan’ to angle and his bitches_

_Angle <3 has changed ‘Lee Chan’s nickname to ‘Baby’_

**angle <3:** _oi bitch bois_

**angle <3:** _cheollie okd t party_

**emo666:** _good_

**angle <3:** _also chan is now her 2 be further deinnocencd_

**holyone:** _‘deinnocencd’ - Your spelling, grammar and vocabulary is atrocious_

**Diva:** _ya lak of text talk nolege is da ‘atrocious’ part_

**Holyone:** _‘nolege’ - I’m so done. Where’s Jihoon when you need him?_

**Sasuke:** _probs sukin cheol off tbh_

_Woozi has removed ‘Sasuke’ from angle and his bitches_

**Woozi:** _For your information, I am currently working. Something that Jeonghan should consider doing._

**Angle <3:** _tats my cu_

**Holyone:** _cue…_

_Naruto has added ‘Kwon Soonyoung’ to angle and his bitches_

_Naruto has changed ‘Kwon Soonyoung’s nickname to ‘Sasuke’_

**Naruto:** _is chan even on tho_

_Baby has changed their own nickname to ‘ghostboi’_

**ghostboi:** _im here_

**Holyone:** _NO! Don’t fall to their ways of no grammar!_

**Sasuke:** _eryones a sinna_

**Emo666:** _a sinnamon roll_

**Sasuke:** _nice_

**Sasuke:** _bk 2 mor presin matas_

**Sasuke:** _party_

**Naruto:** _PARYTYYYYY_

**Gramps:** _dun git 2 drunk_

**Gramps:** _most of u got college tmoz_

**Memesol:** _lol ders 3 alkhol_

**Memesol:** _we gon get pisd_

**Holyone:** _And the worst child for grammar makes an appearance._

**Memesol:** _lol so i got bord of werk_

**Sasuke:** _how has hoon not killd u yet_

**Memesol:** _iv gon 2 da toylett_

**Memesol:** _so i got bowt 5 moar mins bevfor he cums lookin_

**Holyone:** _How do you have the brain capacity to hold two languages?_

**Sasuke:** _its jus text talk_

**Diva:** _na da boi rites essays lik dis aswell_

**Sasuke:** _how dos he surviv_

**Cutie:** _rapping is mainly practical based_

**Cutie:** _he dont write much_

**Memesol:** _tbh_

**Memesol:** _wate_

**Memesol:** _fuk_

**Holyone:** _Language_

**Angle <3:** _ders a bby present_

**Ghostboi:** _-not a bby-_

**Memesol:** _i gota asing meant dew tmoz_

**Holyone:** _Someone please translate._

**Naruto:** _ight_

**Naruto:** _he gota assignment due tmoz_

**Holyone:** _Ok_

**Memesol:** _FK_

**Memesol:** _OIJIOHIONKHBH_

**Memesol:** _(✖╭╮✖)_

**Sasuke:** _wat spky shit issa dis_

**Diva:** _hoon fownd im_

**Diva:** _boi litrali dragd im outta da toilet_

**Diva:** _oh shit_

**Diva:** _he sa coming for meme_

**Diva:** _ABORT ABOTR_

**Diva:** _(✖╭╮✖)_

**Naruto:** _rip memeboi an boo 1998-2018_

**Sasuke:** _least dey did togthr_

**Woozi:** _Right._

**Woozi:** _Anyone else want to die?_

**Sasuke:** _nope_

**Naruto:** _nadda_

**Angle <3:** _im workin real hard_

**Sasuke:** _(´･_･`)_

**Naruto:** _(´･_･`)_

**Woozi:** _...._

**Angle <3:** _wood ya look at dat_

**Angle <3:** _gota blast_

Chan wasn’t entirely sure what to expect when he showed up at Jeonghan’s apartment later that day. He could already hear lots of talking from indoors and he knows that Jisoo doesn’t talk loud because he doesn’t see the need to and that Jeonghan’s quiet nearly all the time to avoid exerting too much energy and that Seungcheol can’t be holding a conversation with himself. He knocked on the door a couple times. Nearly two minutes later, Seungkwan busted open the door and Chan was promptly dragged into the hell hole which is a college party.

A couple hours must have passed with Chan watching everyone slowly become more and more drunk. Hansol could no longer create a whole sentence and Jihoon was curled up on Seungcheol’s lap, quietly playing with said man’s hands. However, Chan would soon realise why college parties’ are hell.

“Let’s play spin the bottle, but truth or dare style!” Seungkwan yelled.

“No! We always play that. I know way too much about Cheol by this point.” Soonyoung whined.

“What about never have I ever?” Mingyu suggested.

“Nah, Hoon always loses.” Seokmin argued.

“What should we play then?” Junhui leaned back.

“What about spin the bottle, slap or kiss?” Minghao grinned. Everyone knew that despite drinking the second most, Minghao was most certainly not drunk. The most he was was slightly buzzed.

“That will get boring after 5 minutes though.” Seungkwan whined.

“Yes and then you lot will begin to beg to play truth or dare and we’ll finally decide on a steady game.” Minghao debated.

“I agree with Minghao.” Seungcheol slurred, causing Jihoon to giggle slightly.

“It’s decided then.” Minghao clapped.

“But literally no one else-” Seokmin started.

“Any objections?” Minghao interrupted. “No? Good. I’ll spin first.” Minghao downed the rest of his bottle and laid it down as everyone gathered around in a circle. He immediately spun the bottle after everyone had sat down or in Jihoon’s case led on a certain muscular man’s lap. The bottle spun until eventually it hit Junhui. Junhui immediately rose and went to the bathroom. “Slap or kiss?”

“I think they should kiss.” Mingyu (Junhao shipper #1) immediately voiced.

“Nah. I want to see them suffer.” Jeonghan grinned. “I think Hao should slap Jun and not gently either.”

“Let’s vote then.” Jisoo sighed. He was the only other sober one.

Junhui was eventually called back in and he stood facing Minghao waiting for Minghao to either kiss or slap him. He honestly didn’t know what to expect at this point. However, when Minghao raised his right hand, he began to realise. He was still unprepared for the giant bitch slap that Minghao brought down upon him. The vote had ended up being 6 vs 4. Mingyu, Wonwoo, Chan and Jisoo voted for kiss and the other 6 voted slap. Hansol may have attempted to vote, but no one could tell what that kid was doing by this point. They were amazed he was still conscious. Well, they thought he was still conscious anyway. His eyes were still open and he would occasionally make noises. Wincing, Junhao managed to spin the bottle, sighing when it landed upon none other than drunk boy, Hansol. Mingyu was forced to carry the boy out of the room, just in case a part of Hansol’s brain was still functional. Mingyu still told them that he was voting for kiss though.

When Hansol returned, Junhui reluctantly kissed the boy. What he wasn’t expecting though was for the boy to throw up in his mouth, leaving Junhui and the others extremely disgusted. However, Junhui was probably the most disgusted and quickly ran to the bathroom to wash the vomit out. Hansol, in the meantime, had finally given up on consciousness and was now snoring loudly.

The game continued a couple more rounds with someone spinning the role and Mingyu having to kiss the unconscious Hansol. Then, Mingyu was forced to slap Jihoon and everyone quickly changed the game afterwards.

“Seungkwan, truth or dare?” Jihoon smirked.

“Truth.” Seungkwan tried.

“Were you the one who ate my chocolate mousse that was in the fridge?” Jihoon glared deep into Seungkwan’s soul.

Seungkwan’s face grew gradually paler and suddenly, the boy was on his knees begging for forgiveness. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was yours. I’ll buy you another one. No, I’ll buy you 20! Just please forgive me!”

Jeonghan laughed. “This is gold. Hoonie probably needed to lay off the chocolate mousse anyway. I’m pretty sure they’re all he eats at the moment. Like seriously when was the last time you had a proper meal?” Seungcheol frowned slightly. He would have to change that, for Jihoon’s wellbeing. For his boyfriend’s wellbeing.

The game dragged on for hours, until the alcohol began to get to nearly everyone and they began switching off like lightbulbs. Even Jisoo had been a victim to some alcoholic concoction at some point, thanks to Jeonghan. Chan was pretty sure that Minghao just wanted to sleep though because that boy definitely never ended up drunk. Chan himself was currently on the balcony, looking over the city.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Chan turned to see Wonwoo leaning against the railings, a cigarette between his fingers.

“I was wondering when you were going to give in to the pull of nicotine again.” Chan smiled, gently. It didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“You’re so similar to Hao at times. I can’t hide anything from you.” Wonwoo remarked. “I am trying to quit though. This is my first in a week. It’s just the alcohol strengthened the urge.”

“I applaud you for trying.” Chan smirked.

“Well, I don’t want my future lover to have to put up with the scent of smoke following them everywhere.” Wonwoo rubbed his eyebrows. “Now, why are you still awake?”

“Couldn’t sleep.” Chan stated. “Too many thoughts.”

“Tell me one.”

“I wouldn’t know which one to tell you without unloading them all and believe me, I would never want to do that to you.” Wonwoo watched Chan. The look in the young boy's eyes was so distant. It was too distant for someone as young and innocent as Chan.

“You know, you’re changing us.” Wonwoo puffed out smoke. “I wish I could tell you in what way, but I’m not Minghao.”

“Well, just tell me the answer when you find it. I’m going to sleep. You should too.” Chan turned to the door with only one thought on his mind:

**His influence on them would definitely be bad.**


	12. The Humble Rover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The practice match that goes well. The celebration that falls to ruin.

**6th October 2018**

“You’re wearing your glasses.” It was a statement. Clear and simple.

“My landlord lost my contacts.” It received a simple explanation.

“How did he lose your contacts?” It withdrew a simple question.

A shrug. A complex answer.

Seungcheol frowned at Jihoon, but Jihoon didn’t expand on his response, leaving Seungcheol to sigh in response. Instead he changed focus. “Your glasses suit you.” It was true. The round framed glasses that perched on Jihoon’s face further emphasised his soft appearance, even if he tried to appear harsh.

“I hate them.” Jihoon walked off. Seungcheol stood, watching him go.

“Trouble in paradise?” Jeonghan rested an arm on Seungcheol’s shoulder.

“Looks like you got it bad.” Soonyoung rested his arm on the other shoulder.

“He’s just complicated.” It was all Seungcheol could offer.

“I didn’t know Hoonie had bad eyesight.” Jeonghan moved on.

“Yeah. He doesn’t wear his glasses very often. He mainly wears contacts now.” Seungcheol chuckled. “He claims to hate those glasses, but he’s the one who picked them out.”

“He’s just a tsundere.” Soonyoung claimed, moving to walk away.

Seungcheol coughed. “Weeaboo.” And another cough.

Soonyoung only shrugged. “I can’t help that anime is good.”

Seungcheol sighed and glanced around to see if all the members had arrived yet. He smiled when he noticed they were all there. He cleared his throat. “Everyone gather up.” He was ignored. “Guys.” He halfheartedly sighed.

“You know if you keep sighing like that you’ll turn into an old man.” Jeonghan teased, before stretching slightly. “Oi! Dickwads!” Jeonghan yelled. Everyone instantly turned to him. He turned to Seungcheol. “Proceed.”

Seungcheol may have mumbled an “I hate you” under his breath, but no one needed to know. “Everyone gather up. I know this is just a practice match, but it’s our first time playing a proper game with each other in a while so try and use it as a chance to resync with everyone. Chan this will be your first time playing with us properly so just try your best to follow our flow and don’t be disheartened if you don’t understand Hoon’s actions. He’s unpredictable. Fists in.” Everyone’s fists formed a circle, Chan’s managing to find their way into position. “Say the name!”

“SEVENTEEN!” Everyone, but Chan shouted in unison, before steadily making their way towards the van.

“So why exactly are we called seventeen if we only have 13 members?” Chan decided it was the time to ask.

“Well, initially we had seventeen members, but everyone began to leave until we had about 13. Then, Samuel left last year, but then you joined!” Soonyoung explained.

“I miss our little baby, Samuel.” Seokmin added.

“Let me guess, Samuel was another one of Jeonghan’s babies?” Chan sighed.

“No. Samuel was Hoon’s small child.” Jeonghan shook his head. “Hoonie wouldn’t let me have him.”

“Anyway, we still have a reason for being called seventeen even though we only have 13 members.” Soonyoung got everyone back on track.” Basically, we have 13 members, but in the game we split into 3 units. We have the pitcher-catcher duo of Mingyu and Hoonie, which makes up one unit. We have the bases trio, Coups, Hannie and Josh. Then, we have the fielders, which is made up of everyone else. Finally, together we all make one team that must function together if  we want to win.” Soonyoung explained. “And 13 add 3 add 1 is 17. Therefore, it must be fate that you joined!” He sang. Chan could only think about how it was more like a curse than fate.

“Hoshi, save your energy for the game and get in the van already so everyone else can get in.” Seungcheol chimed in. Soonyoung chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Everyone slotted into the van and soon they were on their way.

Chan was quick to notice that the rest of the team appeared to know their opponents quite well. It was a team of 10 members who were known as Pentagon. Chan couldn’t get his head round these ridiculous names. Chan was a little bit anxious to be playing again, especially considering how long it had been since he last played and especially considering what happened the last time he played. Chan reassured himself that it was just a practice match and that his opponents this time seemed friendly.

Within a few minutes, the game was set up and Chan was shaking as he took his position on the field. Even though most of him was trembling in fear, there was a small part of him that was excited. His hands had been itching to play even after all this time. The game began pretty slowly as the team got used to playing together again. Chan could tell that Jihoon was being cautious at the moment. He could see the way that Jihoon was analysing his opponents. Chan knew without even looking behind him that Minghao would be doing the same.

However, once every player of Pentagon had managed to bat once, Chan noticed that the game instantly began to pick up. Jihoon was a lot more daring in his actions and Soonyoung and Seokmin were constantly adjusting their positions to the player. Chan watched in sheer awe as the team began to move fluidly as one movement. He spotted the synchronisation between each player as they moved the ball between them. It was as if he was watching an ever improving machine. Chan couldn’t believe it. The same team that he had seen messing about a couple hours ago was moving as if they were one organ system. Chan could only hope and pray that he could fit into the system as a new cell.

The game was swift and Pentagon played a good game, but due to having a smaller amount of experience fell short and lost with a 6 run difference. Chan was amazed with how smoothly the game had gone, but mostly he was still in shock. Chan couldn’t believe that this was what the team had become. The old team that Chan had played with was nowhere near this level.

This team had no need for Chan. **It was already a monster.** Or, that is what Chan chose to believe.

Chan should have expected that the team would celebrate afterwards. However, he did not expect the evening to go so horribly wrong from that point. It started with them going out for a meal to celebrate and it was all good. The team ended up doing their usual antics and Mingyu was scolded by Minghao for dropping another mushroom.

At one point, Jeonghan excused himself to go to the toilet and that’s where things began to go wrong. It’s a known fact that Jeonghan’s long hair and gentle appearance can make him appear at first glance a bit feminine, but then you begin to look at him closely and you realise how handsome he is. However, it’s all in that first glance.

Jeonghan was taking quite a while in the toilet and after a couple jokes that he might be taking a dump, Jisoo went to go check if he was ok. About 15 minutes passed after that when Seungcheol’s phone dinged. Chan never saw the text message, but he could tell from the way Seungcheol’s facial expression dropped it wasn’t good.

“Hoonie do you think you can grab Jeonghan and Joshua’s stuff and bring it outside?” Seungcheol got up.

Jihoon was immediately grabbing their stuff. “Is everything ok?”

Seungcheol shook his head. “No, it isn’t.”

Jihoon nodded in understanding, before going back to packing. Seungcheol made his way to the bathroom. A couple minutes later he emerged from the bathroom with Jeonghan on his back and Jisoo was walking next to him while rubbing circles on Jeonghan’s back. Chan couldn’t see Jeonghan’s face. The trio left and a few minutes later, Jihoon came back inside and sat back down. No one asked what happened, but when Seungcheol returned about half an hour later, the atmosphere remained tense.

No one knew what happened with Jeonghan and the question lingered, but courage failed everyone that night. Jeonghan was safe with Jisoo though and that was the important thing. Chan couldn't help the feeling that reigned that everything that transpired was his fault and he had jinxed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Jeonghan is my next victim after Jihoon. MUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! Also, I'm probably going to add more tags before the next chapter is added so keep an eye out for that.


	13. Jeonghan's Bubble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeonghan's version of the events that unravelled on the night of the 6th October 2018.

It was dumb really. I knew that it wasn’t the same as back then, but at the same time, it felt like I had been thrust back into my past. I only went to take a piss. It was only meant to be a 2 minute job. I should have known the 3 men who were in there would be trouble. I should have left the moment I met eyes with the first one. Their words burnt.

“Oi. Missy, don’t you know these are boy’s toilets?” The first guy had leered.

“Yeah I know. I’m a-” I had tried to explain myself.

“Then why the fuck are you in here?” The second man had cut me up.

“Maybe he’s one of those trans.” The third had piped up. The disgust laced into his voice made it apparent how much danger I had stepped into.

“I’m not.” I tried to explain.

“One of them, huh? Must be a preop. It’s like she’s not even trying though.” The first guy was gradually getting closer to me.

“Let’s be real. She was probably just hoping for a quick fuck.” The second guy moved off of the wall he had been leaning on and made to approach me.

I stepped back. “No!”   


“So she’s one of them.” The first guy smirked. “Well, she’s in luck. There’s three of us here.”

The next few minutes passed by quickly, but the damage was there. They grabbed me and made to rip off my clothes with me struggling. It wasn’t until they had clearly seen the obvious dick between my legs that they recoiled in disgust, pushing me to the ground. There were a few insults and I vaguely remember one of them kicking me, before they finally left. My focus wasn’t on them by that point though. I was too far gone. All I could think about was the curse my mother had left me with. My brain was a blur of the years of abuse my mother had thrust onto me. How she had forced me into girl’s clothes. How she had forced me to grow my hair out. How she had screamed at me whenever I tried to act masculine. How she had told me everyday how much she wished she had a girl instead of me. How I’m still too scared to cut my hair because I know eventually I’ll have to see her again.

I can’t recall how long I sat in those toilets, just remembering. Eventually, Jisoo came in. Jisoo had seemed stressed for a few minutes, almost as though, he himself was remembering, before he finally came closer. He had gently put my clothes back on me. He was talking to me the whole time, but I can’t particularly remember what it was about. My brain had felt too fuzzy. He stayed with me for a few minutes and then suddenly, Seungcheol was coming in. 

I don’t know how they managed to get me onto Seungcheol’s back because I certainly didn’t move by myself, but at some point, I was back at home. I was on my bed and Jisoo was talking to me. I felt unclean. I wanted to voice this to Jisoo, but for some reason, the words I was trying to get out wouldn’t come. I must have fallen asleep at some point. I vaguely remember having this nightmare where my body parts were forcibly replaced with female ones and there were men touching me again and again. I couldn’t breathe when I woke up. It felt like there was something lodged in my throat. Jisoo had spoken to me again. I couldn’t tell you what he had said, but something about them must have worked because I eventually calmed down enough to breathe normally. I still couldn’t speak, but I curled up against Jisoo and I stared at the TV screen, wondering what was happening. I could feel Jisoo’s chest rising and falling with each breath he took.

Several hours must have passed before I was finally in control. I had realised by this point that Jisoo had put some shitty anime on the TV about swimming. Jisoo had taken to carefully stroking one hand through my hair. His other hand was occasionally squeezing my hand in the gentlest way possible, as if he was reminding me of his presence. I could vaguely make out Jisoo humming quietly.

“Thank you.” I whispered, finally. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

Jisoo tilted his head round to look at me better or at least, I think he did. I couldn’t really see his face. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Jisoo whispered back. It felt too real and all of a sudden, there were tears streaming down my face. It had actually happened. I hadn’t imagined it. It hadn’t been a dream. It had happened. I sobbed into his chest, while he took to rubbing circles on my back. “I know, Hannie, I know.” 

A part of me wanted to argue with him. I wanted to scream that there was no way in hell he could know how much I had suffered, but then I remembered the conflict on his face when he had seen me. I remembered how hurt he had looked when he had put my clothes back on me. It wasn’t the type of hurt you see when you’ve just found your best friend sat against a wall with dishevelled clothes and his dick out. It was the type of hurt you can only experience when you yourself has experienced something similar.

“It’s over now, Hannie. They’re no longer here. I won’t let them come near you again.” Jisoo was holding me closer now and I could feel droplets hitting me in the back of the head. Jisoo was also crying.

“Why didn’t you protect me?” I sobbed. “Why weren’t you there? Why didn’t you stop it in the first place?”

“I’m sorry.” Jisoo cried. “I’m sorry. I should have done. I would never ever wish something like that upon anyone. I’m so sorry I didn’t help sooner. I should have been there. I should have stopped them.”

We must have cried for ages. Eventually both of us calming down enough again. We both shuffled into the kitchen together, clinging to each other for safety. We sipped on a glass of water together, too scared to separate. We curled back up on my bed after that, cocooned in my duvet. We stayed like that for ages, both of us scared to bridge the gap. It must have been ages before Jisoo finally broke.

“I love you, Hannie.” Jisoo held me closer. “I love you too much to see anything happen to you.”

“I know, but you know I might not be able to ever give you everything you deserve.” I stressed. I had told him months ago about my lack of sexual attraction.

“It’s fine. I don’t know if I would be able to bring myself to do it either.” I knew there was an underlying meaning to Jisoo’s words, but I knew he would tell me when he was ready. “But, Hannie, do you love me?”

“Of course I do. How could I not?” I had snuggled closer, engulfing myself in Jisoo’s warmth.

The kiss we had shared had been careful, barely a peck, but for us it was the bridge into something new and unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could have updated this earlier, but I didn't because I wanted to draw Woozi. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ Blame Change Up being a bop.


End file.
